Waldo is in Fairfield!

FIND WALDO IN Fairfield! Elusive Book Character Creates Summertime Fun to Support the Shop Local Movement

Where’s Waldo? In Fairfield, Conn of course! The famous children’s book character in the striped shirt and black-rimmed specs is visiting twenty-five local businesses throughout our community this July. Find Waldo Local is a great summer vacation activity and a wonderful way to support local businesses and the Shop Local movement in our community, including these partners: Apricot Lane, Barber Serville, Beadworks, B. Good, Capri, Catch A Healthy Habit, Dash N Drizzle, Freshii, Hands On Pottery, Home: Style & Stage, Island Outfitters, Italian Kitchen, The Label Exchange, La Moda, Magic Beans, Me Boutique, Palooza, Party Party, Saugatuck Sweets, Sound Runner, Swim N Surf, The Tennis Spot, Vintage Garden and Zanes Cycles.

Anyone who wishes to participate can pick up a “Find Waldo Local in Fairfield!” passport at your Waldo Headquarters--the downtown Fairfield University Bookstore, 1499 Post Road, Fairfield, CT 06824 203-255-7756 beginning Friday, July 1, 2016. Get your passport stamped or signed for each Waldo you spot at the participating sites.

Collecting store stamps or signatures at twenty or more businesses will entitle diligent seekers entry into a grand-prize drawing on July 30th @ 1:00 pm at the Bookstore, with the top prize being a six-volume deluxe set of Waldo books. This year, participants can also #ColorWaldoAndWin: when they share a completed coloring sheet of Waldo on Instagram, they’ll be entered into a drawing to be one of five lucky winners of a deluxe prize pack.

Waldo is the creation of Martin Handford, whose entertaining drawings of crowd scenes swept the world in the late eighties. Since then, the Where’s Waldo? books have held a cherished spot on bookstore shelves the world over. There are now over 65 million-Waldo books in print worldwide, and they’ve been translated into over thirty languages. An entire generation has grown up searching for Waldo and his cast of wandering companions.

In celebration of Waldo’s longevity and popularity, his American publisher, Candlewick Press, is once again teaming up with the American Booksellers Association and two hundred and fifty independent bookstores (including the Fairfield University Bookstore) across the country for some hide-and-seek fun to encourage communities to patronize their local businesses.