First Ever Book Swap Hopes To Spread Enjoyment Of Reading

WAITE PARK (WJON News) -- A first-of-its-kind event for the St. Cloud area took place on Saturday. Fuzzy Loon Designs held it first-ever Book Swap from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

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Over the last month, people had to drop of their "favorite reads" and then could stop in on Saturday to pick out 3 new to them books. Fuzzy Loon Design Co-Owner Sarah Fitzgerald says the response has been great and they've even had some unexpected reactions:

"The best reaction is, I actually went to Barnes & Noble and bought some new books, our business did, because I really wanted this to be successful and the person working at Barnes & Noble was telling me about the books, and they said that they love those books and I said yeah I hadn't read them yet I'm going to donate them to a book swap and she goes oh my gosh I really wanted to go to that, like I'm really excited because I haven't seen one in the area and I can't make it so I'm hoping you do another."

Fitzgerald says they do plan to do more book swaps and is thinking the next one will be in September and they are also looking into having one on weekdays to allow people who can't come on weekends to take part.  She says the Book Swap is all about sharing the enjoyment of reading:

"The big thing with the book swap is we really encourage people to bring in books that they really, truly loved reading, not just dumping off old books, because that's what makes the event really fun when people are bring in books that they liked then they get to share that enjoyment with somebody else."

Fitzgerald says they had great participation and expected over 100 people to stop in to pick out their "new" books.

They also had a bookmark-making station and a community art canvas project titled "The World Through Books" people could add their art to while they were there. Sweet Love Baked Goods was on hand with treats and iced coffee for sale as well.

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