OC Bookstore Crawl Set

Orange County, New York is turning Independent Bookstore Day into a three-day road trip: from Friday, April 24, through Sunday, April 26, readers can visit seven bookstores across the county instead of packing everything into a single Saturday. (ocnybookcrawl.com) The setup is simple: pick up a free passport at any participating store or print one online, then get it stamped or signed at each stop over the weekend. (ocnybookcrawl.com) If you complete all seven stops, you can bring the finished passport to any participating bookstore during May for extra discounts, and the passport entry also puts you in the running for grand prizes. (ocnybookcrawl.com, ocnybookcrawl.squarespace.com) The seven stores are spread across seven Orange County towns: Blue Fox Books in Walden, Eureka Books and More in Sugar Loaf, From Beyond Books in Pine Bush, Golden Hour Books in Newburgh, Good Books in Cornwall, This Chapter in Port Jervis, and Well Worn Books in Middletown. (ocnybookcrawl.squarespace.com) This is the second year for the crawl, and the county had eight stores in the first edition in 2025, which means the 2026 version is slightly smaller but still countywide. (timeshudsonvalley.com, ocnybookcrawl.com) The date in the middle of the crawl is doing a lot of work: Saturday, April 25, is the 2026 national Independent Bookstore Day, the annual event run by the American Booksellers Association. (bookweb.org) That national event has grown into a big coordinated push, with more than 2,000 bookstores in all 50 states expected to take part this year, according to the American Booksellers Association, while Shelf Awareness reported nearly 1,900 participating stores and called it the largest turnout yet. (bookweb.org, shelf-awareness.com) Orange County’s version turns that one-day celebration into a local map: one county, three days, seven stores, with passports and stamps giving readers a reason to drive from Walden to Port Jervis to Newburgh instead of stopping at just one shop. (ocnybookcrawl.com, travelhudsonvalley.com) The crawl also gives small stores a shared weekend instead of seven separate promotions, which is why the official site bundles the passport, map, and frequently asked questions into one campaign page for all seven booksellers. (ocnybookcrawl.com) For readers, the pitch is less “sale” than scavenger hunt: print a passport, collect seven stamps, turn it in during May, and use Independent Bookstore Day on April 25 as the anchor point for the whole loop. (ocnybookcrawl.com, bookweb.org)