Find Waldo Local returned to bookstores this summer after a two-year absence, with indie booksellers partnering with local businesses to plan scavenger hunts for kids across the country, to encourage families to shop local. The program, centered around Martin Handford’s beloved character from the Where’s Waldo? books, is organized by Candlewick Press in partnership with the American Booksellers Association, and this year it was celebrating its 10th anniversary. Here we present some highlights from the nearly 300 bookstores and communities that participated.
Tessa (l.) and Emrel from Blue Marble Books in Ft. Thomas, Ky., show off their Selfie with Waldo station.
“I found him!”: one happy party attendee at Booktown in Manasquan N.J.
A musical interlude at Poet’s Corner Book Shop in Duncans Mills, Calif.
A Waldo Wagon parading through the streets of Morgan Hill, Calif., thanks to indie bookseller BookSmart.
Two Waldo watchers at Skylark Bookshop in Columbia, Mo.
Bookseller Connor “McGee” Fulkerson as Waldo for Prairie Fox Books in Ottawa, Ill.
An indoor/outdoor Waldo hunt, at Norwich Bookstore in Norwich, Vt.
Grand prize winners come in all sizes for Red Rock Books in Ridgecrest, Calif.
A small but determined Waldo finder at DDG Booksellers in Farmington, Maine.
Thunder Road Books in Spring Lake, N.J., hosted its first Find Waldo Local party ever, and drew more than 350 attendees.
Partygoers at Books Inc. in Campbell, Calif.
Some crafty kids enjoyed the activities at House of Books in Kent, Ct.
A bookworm asks the proverbial question, on a hunt planned by the Book Worm Bookstore in Springs, Ga.
From a Find Waldo Local party at Neighborhood Reads in Washington, Mo.
Waldo seekers on the hunt at Scout & Morgan Books in Cambridge, Minn.
Waldo finds a kindness rock at Let’s Play Books Bookstore in Emmaus, Pa.
Proud teen Waldo finders at jaZams in Princeton, N.J.
