Hugely Successful Weekend for Featherston Booktown

Scores of primary school children clutching $10 vouchers, eager to choose their own books from more than 15 new, second hand and antiquarian booksellers in ANZAC Hall was an outstanding feature of the third Featherston Booktown at the weekend.

Chair of the Featherston Booktown Trust, Lincoln Gould estimates the number of visitors to Booktown to be around 4,000 – double the crowd at last year’s event.

“We really enjoyed seeing these school children and their parents out, visiting the bookshops all over Featherston this year.

“Funding for the voucher scheme was provided anonymously by a local benefactor who is very keen to support the idea of encouraging children to read for pleasure,” says Gould.

“And our other visitors came from all over, from the Wairarapa, Wellington, Hawke’s Bay, the South Island, as well as Australia.

“The booksellers, plus two new-book sellers in The ANZAC Hall, all reported their best ever sales for the event, with the four permanent bookshops now established in Featherston also reporting brisk sales.”

Some 200 attendees were at the now famous Fish and Chip supper on the Friday night at which author, Lloyd Jones, made a moving address on the values that reading gives to individuals and societies.
Audiences of 50 plus attended the more than 30 events held throughout the town over the two days.

After the hugely successful weekend, Featherston Booktown has begun the process of looking for a new Creative Director to replace the almost irreplaceable, Kate Mead.

“Kate has been Creative Director for all three of the Booktown Festivals held in the town, and the Trust will find it hard to replace her.

“There is a strong desire within the community to continue to grow Featherston Booktown as a centre for book collectors, traders and readers to celebrate the artefact of the book – and not just once a year, but also with other book related events at other times,” says Gould.

The Booktown Trust will settle on a recruitment process quickly to ensure that planning for 2018 and other events during the year can begin as soon as possible.
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