Find Waldo Local” Scavenger Hunts Underway

Waldo is featured in the front window of Eight Cousins Bookstore in Falmouth, Massaschusetts. It was there that the seeds for Find Waldo Local were planted last August, when store owner Carol Chittenden developed a promotion around Waldo to increase foot traffic to her store and to neighboring businesses.

Twenty-five years since the first “Where’s Waldo?” books were published, the man in stripes remains in hiding. To celebrate this special anniversary and to promote local spending, Candlewick Press’ July campaign encourages shoppers in participating communities to “Find Waldo Local.”

This week, and in the days leading up to the event, bookstores that rallied their neighboring independent businesses to participate gained recognition in their local media.

Under the headline “Where’s Waldo (aka Wally) is still trekking,” the St. Louis Today Book Blog said of Find Waldo Local, “Sure, it’s a marketing idea to promote Waldo’s 25th anniversary and get kids into local stores. But those Waldo books are fun and addictive: I’ve spent many hours with my son looking for the long-legged walker, his friends and, especially, the elusive Woof’s tail.” For hints about participating stores, readers were encouraged to “keep an eye on websites for Main Street Books, Left Bank Books, and Pudd’nhead Books.”

Georgia’s WCTV reported on the start of the celebration at The Bookshelf and Gallery in Thomasville. “The Where’s Waldo promotion is a great way to shop local and support our local businesses,” Arline Hampton, executive director of main street and tourism, told the TV station. “Small businesses like those located in our downtown are the back-bone of our economy. We count on our small businesses to create jobs, support our local sports and youth groups, donate to charitable causes and be great neighbors. This is our opportunity to have some fun and help keep them thriving in our own community.”

In Telluride, Colorado, enthusiasm for Find Waldo Local is high among the town’s local businesses, Daiva Chesonis, owner of Telluride Colorado’s Between the Covers Bookstore, told the Telluride Daily Planet. Their response to her e-mail about the event “blew me away,” Chesonis said. Now she’s hoping the month-long celebration will encourage people in the community to shop local. “See it here, buy it here, keep it here,” Chesonis stressed.

In Ridgefield, Connecticut, Books on the Common owner Ellen Burns told the Ridgefield Press that “Find Waldo Local is a way for Ridgefield merchants to work together as a retail community. We thought it would be a fun activity for the kids in town and their parents to visit our merchants and restaurants and try to spot the little Waldo each participating business will have in their shop.”

Chelan, Washington’s “First Friday” events, on July 6, will be Waldo-themed, reported the Lake Chelan Mirror. Plans include Waldo crafts and games, a petting zoo, Zumba and dancing, and much more. People who collect “I Found Waldo” cards and turn them in at Riverwalk Books earn a Waldo button (available to the first 100 Waldo spotters), and those who turn in 28 of the possible 34 cards will be entered into a drawing for a six-book deluxe set of Waldo books.

Kentucky’s Louisville.com referred to Carmichael’s Bookstore as “Waldo headquarters,” where participating children and parents are instructed to stop to pick up a list of participating businesses. An incentive for kids to join the hunt is a coupon to the local ice cream shop for a free kid-sized cone of a new flavor inspired by Waldo.

Watch for more coverage of Find Waldo Local in upcoming editions of Bookselling This Week.