NORTHAMPTON — A local book fair featuring myriad vendors in the area is returning for its second year in Northampton after a successful inaugural showing.
The Northampton Outdoor Vintage Book Fair will occur at 1 Kirkland Ave. on June 15 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and feature individually priced vintage, old, gently used, rare and new books for sale.
“We’re lucky around this area … there’s a lot of books, there’s a lot of people who buy books and read books,” said Michael Manz, who co-created the event with his friend Joel Levin. “Northampton is the perfect area for this kind of thing.”
Manz said that he and Levin noticed that a lot of little regional book fairs, particularly ones that scattered New England and New York, were disappearing because of the prominence of online book selling.
“Either dealers didn’t bother doing a fair or, you know, they could just do the same thing on their computer,” said Manz, who sells a diverse collection of vintage fiction under his own business, Babylon Revisited Rare Books. “The social aspect of book fairs was lost when that happened, though.”
With that in mind, the duo created the fair last year to fill what they felt was a void. The goal was to conceive something that was easily accessible, close by for residents and free to the public.
“We put all those things together and said, ‘Why don’t we try an outdoor book fair right in Northampton?,’” Manz said. “And that’s what we did.”
Manz called last year’s fair — which drew several hundred people — a success, and said he hopes this year’s will be another smash hit.
He told Reminder Publishing that the fair has expanded a bit with a few more vendors, and so far, the fair’s Facebook page has garnered interest from a little over 2,000 people.
According to the page, the vendors who will sell books at the fair include The Raven, Grey Matter, Book Ends, Splendor Solis, Barbara E. Smith Books, Wiggins Fine Books, Periodyssey, Unnameable Books, Dewey Decimals, Lizzy Young, Broadside, Book Moon, Peter Masi, Babylon Revisited Rare Books, Familiar Trees, Jimmy Higgins, Bookworm & Apple and Pioneer Valley Writers’ Workshop.
The fair will also feature a selection of more books from the personal library of Madeleine L’Engle.
“We emphasize to the vendors to bring reasonable books, reasonably priced books in an effort to encourage people to start collecting books,” Manz said.
When asked about the reason for placing the fair in Northampton, Manz called the city “special” and noted how it is an ideal place to draw people since it features hundreds of shops and restaurants.
“I think people have responded quite well to this event,” Manz said. “I’m excited to keep this thing rolling. I think it has the potential to be one of those staple Northampton events.”
Readers can learn more about the event by visiting the fair’s Facebook page. According to Manz, the rain date will be June 16 at the same time.
