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Artpark State Park will welcome the return of the Better Off Read Summer Book Festival to Lewiston, NY, on Saturday, September 5. The all-ages literary festival is free to attend. Now in its fifth year, the event will take place in the Lower Park from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The mission of the annual event is “to encourage reading, promote writing, and celebrate storytelling.”
In addition to having thousands of books (new and used) available for sale, the festival will host writers, artists and merchants. Last year’s event featured more than 40 independent authors. A raffle includes prizes donated by celebrity storytellers, while complimentary offerings for participants include storytelling, face-painting and balloon animals.
“It keeps growing and getting bigger and better,” festival organizer Ian Kinney said in a recent interview with WIVB-TV.
Kinney, a writer from Lewiston, added, “This thing started in my childhood former elementary school playground and it really has grown into one of the top literary festivals in North America in only five years.”
Kinney shared the origins of the Better Off Read Summer Book Festival in a 2024 article penned for Niagara Frontier Publications.
Full details about this year’s event are online at betteroffreadfestival.com.