Signup Underway for 2019 Find Waldo Local Campaign

American Booksellers Association member bookstores are invited to visit BookWeb to register for the eighth annual Find Waldo Local before Friday, March 1.

Each year, the shop local campaign brings together small business communities across the nation in hosting scavenger hunts for the striped and bespectacled picture book character. The scavenger hunts, which run the entire month of July, lead searchers through participating stores in their local shopping districts, and Waldo hunters are eligible for prizes throughout the month at participating businesses. At the end of the month, the campaign culminates in a closing party at the organizing bookstore.

Online preregistration to participate in Find Waldo Local 2019 opened on Wednesday, January 23, and ABA member stores have until Friday, March 1, to sign up on BookWeb for the campaign, co-sponsored, as always, by Candlewick Press and the American Booksellers Association. Participation is capped at 250 stores.

In 2019, Candlewick will once again provide bookstores with a toolkit containing everything needed to launch a Find Waldo Local event in their communities, including 25 mini Waldo standees, 25 window clings, 125 prize buttons, a Waldo poster, eight Waldo prize books, reproducible passports, $1 coupons, party activities, bag stuffers, and a sample pitch letter and press release as well as social media assets for Facebook and Twitter.

New for this year’s kits, booksellers will find a mini standee for Odlaw, Waldo’s mysterious mustachioed nemesis, who will join Waldo in hiding inside stores. In addition, back by popular demand, Candlewick will also provide a four-foot-tall Waldo standee to use for photo ops with kids.

Booksellers can download the 2019 campaign brochure for full details and registration requirements. Further questions can be addressed to [email protected].