INSPIRING: Harrison Montague, 9, with popular children’s author Andy Griffiths at the Griffith Readers’ Festival on Saturday at Pioneer Park. Picture: Anthony Stipo
GRIFFITH’S readers’ festival has firmly secured its spot on the calendar.
The first-ever event was held at Pioneer Park Museum over the weekend, with around 300 people enjoying the author talks and workshops offered.
Debbie Guertin from Collins Booksellers, whose idea it was to host the festival, said plans were already under way for next year.
“When you have an idea and see it come to fruition, it’s very satisfying, I’m proud of what we achieved,” she said.
“Numbers were a bit low but the authors had an amazing time and loved the venue and the whole atmosphere of the event.
“We will definitely make this an annual event. We’ll meet later this week to thrash out how we can improve things.”
Mrs Guertin said a highlight of the weekend was popular children’s author Andy Griffiths, who spent more than three hours signing books for the city’s smallest bookworms.
“Andy spoke for an hour then he signed books for three hours straight,” Mrs Guertin said.
“He took the time to personally dedicate books and speak to 100 kids who lined up.
“Overall we are really happy with how it all went. We would have liked more people to come along to experience it but those who did thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Griffith Readers’ Festival committee member Amanda Martimbianco said locals could expect to see a slightly altered format next year.
“This was our first year and we did it with very little funding, so what we achieved was pretty amazing,” she said.
“Now that we know what we are doing, next year should only be better.
“Andy Griffiths was a hit and the Mungia Mungia ladies drew a good crowd.
“All of the authors thoroughly enjoyed themselves and quite a few want to be involved again next year.
“One of the biggest comments we had was that people would like more workshops, especially for kids.”
