Celebrating the changing of the seasons, Inbound BrewCo hosted the Spring Fling Romance Book Fair on Saturday. The festivities included trivia, crafts and local booksellers from across the state.
Packed into the open space of the brewery, the Spring Fling Romance Book Fair offered an array of activities, including free coloring sheets, “A Court of Thorns and Roses” themed trivia and Minnesota business owners offering tailored merchandise for the romance fans.
Carlie Lund, 24, visited the fair with her fellow book-loving friend to find out more.
“We just love to read, we love to share books,” Lund said. “It was just the perfect event for a Saturday. It’s really cool to just see everybody who enjoys the same hobbies.”
Vendors came from across the state to the event, most located outside of the Twin Cities.
Based two hours outside of the Twin Cities in Austin, Minnesota, the Hey Darling Bookstore offered a collection of popular and contemporary books in the romance genre, as well as hand wrapped books for a “blind date with a book.”
Next to them was Swoonworthy Romance Booksellers, a bookstore owned by sisters Stephanie and Emily Arcand. The pair recently opened their first mini storefront in White Bear Lake in March after years of running their pop-up romance book store.
In preparation for the event, the pair selected specific titles that would interest local readers while also balancing representation and diversity.
“We want to empower groups from the queer community, from groups of marginalized voices, BIPOC authors,” Emily said. “All of those factors combine into curation.”
The pair worked in public medicine before choosing to pursue their shared passion for books. Prior to opening their storefront, the sisters would travel to different events as a pop-up vendor, where their love for the job grew.
“It’s like a book fair for grown ups, basically,” Emily said. “Like, we all have these nostalgic memories of the Scholastic Book Fair from elementary school. It’s like ‘Let’s recreate that and actually make it a community-based event.’”
Another vendor, Katie Flynn represented her store The Geek Boutique and provided a quirky collection of romance book themed trinkets, stickers and apparel featuring exclusive art on each item.
Flynn opened her pop culture pop-up shop after a career in teaching middle school English and drama across the country, along with working as a makeup artist for independent projects and films in New York City.
“I love that when a customer comes in, they see a bit of their passion in our products,” Flynn said. “They want to be able to share and shine with that passion.”
