Thanks to a popular series of books, it’s a question asked by many…”Where’s Waldo?” This summer the search begins at Anderson’s Bookshop in downtown Naperville.
“It’s July, and that means here at Anderson’s that we have our annual Waldo hunt, which is a fun program, free family fun that we put together every summer, every July. It runs July 1 to July 31,” said Anderson’s Marketing Manager Kerry Clemm.
The search is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association in conjunction with Candlewick Press, the publisher of the “Where’s Waldo” books.
Thirteen downtown Naperville businesses hiding Waldo
Anderson’s Bookshop is just one of thirteen downtown Naperville businesses that have hidden Waldo within their shop.
Searchers are invited to pop into Anderson’s first to grab a game board with a list of participating businesses, then start their hunt for the character, wearing his signature red and white striped shirt and hat.
“We just partner up with lots of our local independent businesses. We all hide a little guy, a little Waldo guy, in all of our stores,” said Clemm. “You find Waldo in those businesses, and an employee from that business will go ahead and check your square off.”
Once sharp-eyed hunters have spotted at least eight Waldos, they can bring their game board back to Anderson’s, where they can be entered into a raffle to win prizes from the participating stores.
Family fun, while providing a boost to local businesses
The search brings a bit of summer fun, but also some welcome business to local shops
“Foot traffic goes down during July, in all of our independent businesses in every downtown across America. And this is just a fun way to hopefully engage our community and our customers and have them have a little fun,” said Clemm.
Organizers hope the search for Waldo helps the public find some new favorite spots as well.
“Hopefully…our customers discover a few local independent businesses they didn’t know about and get excited about, and patronize,” said Clemm.
If you have a story idea, we want to hear from you!
