Youthful literary adventurers get ready — the sixth annual Storybook Walk begins on Wednesday.

Marshalltown Central Business District (MCBD) Executive Director Danielle Lekin said the walk will last until May 3. Sixty-two businesses are participating, 10 more than the previous year.

“We have more businesses downtown this year,” she said, attributing the increased participation to the growing number of businesses.

Lekin noted that some of the new businesses which are participating in the Storybook Walk include Fizz & Fiction, Half-Price Appliance and Lucky Friday Bin Store.

The MCBD partners with the Marshalltown Public Library to organize and put on the walk every year to celebrate the importance of reading for kids. During the Walk, children will start by getting a list of participating downtown stores.

“The Marshalltown library selects a children’s book for each business and prints a copy of the cover to display in the window,” she said. “The library does an excellent job in picking the books that coordinate with what the business does. That is always my favorite part – seeing what book they selected for the business. MCBD receives all the covers and then we distribute them, so it’s always fun to see what they picked.”

The children’s Storybook Walk task is to “hunt” for the covers at listed stores with their scavenger sheet and write down the first two words of the book title. After titles have been collected — and Lekin said children do not have to gather every single one — the sheet is turned into the library. In exchange, the child will get a free book and an entry into the grand prize drawing.

On average, she said around 200 children participate in the walk.

“It’s a good turnout,” Lekin said. “Obviously we would love to see more participation. We know there are 8,000 kids in Marshalltown between the ages of 0 and 18, so we would love to see more participate.”

Attracting more children to the event has been an ongoing effort. Last year, she said the MCBD partnered with the Marshalltown Community School District to include the scavenger list and the event in student’s digital backpacks. That is something Lekin said they will do again this year.

“We’re very fortunate we have a good partnership with MCSD,” she said. “And social media is really how it gets out. So, I’m going to have to put my face out there and make a video. The community always receives information better that way.”

The ultimate goal for the Storybook Walk is to get families downtown, get families connected with the library and to promote child literacy.

“It’s a great opportunity in the spring to get families downtown to see what’s available, and the different opportunities they have,” Lekin said.

She is looking forward to the walk this year, as it is one of her favorite MCBD events.

“I’m a big lover of children’s literature in general,” Lekin added.

LIST:

To get the list of participating Storybook Walk stores, children or their parents can get a copy from the Marshalltown Public Library at 105 W. Boone St. or by downloading it from the MCBD website at marshalltownmainstreet.org.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.