WATERVILLE, Maine — Kids, adults, and families came together at Head of Falls in downtown Waterville to celebrate the magic of books.
"I've always been a reader," Maine Book Fest head organizer Maddie Smith said. "My mom is a big book nerd, so I just want to let people know that it's cool to read."
Despite this event being relatively new, Smith said she has already seen more excitement surrounding it from the community.
"There's been a lot of buzz about people just coming to the event, and I've gotten a lot of interest in coming to help out," Smith said. "I had people even coming up to me in person and telling me they were coming to my event or telling me about the book fest not knowing I was the organizer."
Marketing her first book to attendees at the first book fest, returning children's author Leigh Alley said the event has given her an amazing opportunity to connect with her readers, and also gain inspiration from talking with other authors and book lovers.
"When someone comes by and they are 10 years old and they're buying your book and you're signing it for them and they're jumping up and down with excitement, it's so much fun," Alley said.
"So many folks from so many different backgrounds and interests and genres and just the chance to come together as creatives is so powerful."
Folks like printmaker James Sylvester.
He's been giving attendees a chance to stylize their own book page with an assortment of stamps he's made himself.
"It helps people who might not be a drawer or an artist remember that they can be creative and still put something together and just have some fun," Sylvester said.
Like Alley, Sylvester said one of the best parts of events like the book fest is forming relationships with other artists.
"It's a great way to find new people to collaborate with and to find likeminded people who may be looking for some other art event and then we can just link up and make at date and come up with something great to do," Sylvester said. "That's a lot of how I build my business, honestly."
With such a variety of unique literature-related arts and crafts, festival attendee Pete Haase said events like these give him the confidence to continue pursuing art of his own.
"It's so inspiring just as a creative person myself to don't stop doing what you love to do," Haase said.
The Maine Book Fest was scheduled to resume 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. To find a schedule of events you can visit the festival's website.