Two free events to celebrate books & comics Saturday in Elmira
ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – Two free events are happening in downtown Elmira on Saturday. Both involve celebrating the love of books and comics and promoting literacy. The Steele Memorial Library on East Church Street is hosting its second annual “Steele Pop Expo” from 11am to 4pm. Two blocks away at Wisner Park, the 2024 Book Fest will be held from 10am to 2pm.
“It’s a completely free event,” said Jennie Lewis, a librarian at Steele Memorial Library. “It’s our version of sort of a Comic Con-esque event. We’ll have free comics. We have a special edition comic. We had a cover designed by Reilly Brown who is a top selling Marvel and DC artist and writer.”
The special edition “Archie” comic was made possible with the help of Jared Aiosa, the owner of Heroes Comic Shop in Elmira Heights.
“We’re incredibly fortunate to have him,” Aiosa said of Reilly Brown. The interesting thing about Reilly is that he’s known for being the artist for Deadpool and the Batman: Fortnite mini-series. Which is good, it’s great. But we thought, Deadpool isn’t all ages friendly. So, we were essentially able to put together our own comic. We asked Riley to illustrate our very own cover. So, we’re going to hand these out to the first few hundred attendees.
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The “Pop Expo” will also feature a cosplay contest, video games, and tabletop games like Pokémon and Dungeons & Dragons. After checking out the expo, you can walk over to Wisner Park for the 2024 Book Fest. The event is organized by the “Family Reading Partnership of Chemung Valley.”
“Tomorrow is pretty much a celebration of books,” said Michelle Halperin, the Chair of the Book Fest and the Vice-President of the “Family Reading Partnership of Chemung Vallery. “When families come, one of the first things they’ll get to do is check in and children will be able to select a free book which fits our theme, which is Read. Think. Dream. We’ve got a whole bunch of community organizations that will be presenting all kinds of activities for families and children to do. We also have some entertainment coming which I’m really excited about.”
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Halperin says entertainment will include a juggler and a magician named Mr. Nicholas.
“For a lot of children, especially struggling readers, books are not necessarily something they see as a joyful experience,” Halperin said. “One of the things Book Fest allows us to do is really come out, and truly celebrate all of the fun things that books provide for kids and encourage families to read together. This big celebration is a great reminder to do that.”
“It’s a day of free admission events where we’re promoting literacy,” Aiosa added. “It’s going to be an incredible day for the City of Elmira, for people from all around, Chemung, Steuben, Schuyler County to come and visit Elmira.”
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