Over a thousand literature lovers attended the opening day of the Brantford Symphony Orchestra’s (BSO) annual book fair fundraiser on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.
Several attendees estimated that well over 500 people had eagerly lined up around Laurier University’s One Market building before the event even got underway.
“People really come from all over Southern Ontario and beyond to come to this book fair,” said Derek Bond, who sits on the BSO Board of Directors. “Just this morning we had somebody here from Kingston, and we’ve even had people from the U.S. come in the past too; it’s really something to see.”
Inside, book lovers moved from section to section, scouring through what felt like an endless array of hidden gems.
Many in attendance arrived ready to expand their collections, and with thousands of books, crafts, CDs, DVDs, vinyl records, puzzles and countless treasures to search through, shoppers had their hands, bags and boxes overflowing.
“This is both the largest and one of the longest running book fairs in Ontario,” said Penny MacKenzie, a BSO book fair committee member. “We have been anticipating and getting ready for this event for eight weeks now, and everything has been divided into 11 different sections and categorized accordingly.”
While numerous shoppers were there to pick up an assortment of different genres, others were there to collect novels more geared towards their specific interests.
MacKenzie said that one of this year’s newest, and most popular additions was the graphic novel section.
“My son had actually suggested that we add in a section for graphic novels,” she said. “We’ve never really had one before so I didn’t know what the response would be, but it’s nearly empty already.”
With book prices starting as low as a dollar, friends, families and even strangers, were overheard chatting about how much their total might come to at the check out, if they should try to restrain themselves from getting “too many” books, and if so, how they were supposed to choose between so many good titles.
Innerkip resident, Fiona Lowe, said that it was her first time at the book fair and that she couldn’t believe the sheer number of books on display.
“I can’t even imagine how much work went into organizing all of this,” she said, with a laugh. “So far it’s been really great, and I just think it’s so nice to see many book lovers all under one roof.”
When asked if she had found anything interesting, Lowe was happy to rest her heavy bags on the ground, and show off a few of her finds.
“I found a couple of really good musical biographies, which is nice, and I also found a whole book of Stephen King that I picked up for my neighbour too,” she said.
A short while later, she reunited with a coworker she brought along on the outing, and the two were all smiles as they showed each other their haul of goodies.
Later, MacKenzie said that between this year’s venue and the uptick in volunteers, she was thrilled with how the book fair was shaping up.
“We have a huge new team of volunteers this year, 42 to be exact, which is amazing; if this keeps up, we may just be able to alphabetize next year… no promises though!” she said with a laugh. “What’s also really nice about this year is the venue. Last year, there were so many little rooms and not only was it hard to see all the volunteers, but we also had people saying they didn’t even know there was an education section because they couldn’t find it. This year, it’s all kind of one big open area which is much easier, and Laurier has just been so wonderful to us so we’re so thankful for that.”
The BSO book fair has been running since 1964, and the committee has become the largest contributor of funds for the BSO to operate. The money raised from the four-day event will help contribute to the symphony’s three yearly concerts.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
