On June 29, Twipes partnered with Canalside for the second-annual Children’s Book Festival at Canalside on Buffalo’s scenic waterfront.
The event was also sponsored by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and Top Seedz, and the first 300 people in attendance received gift bags courtesy of Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Dion Dawkins’ charity, Dion’s Dreamers.
“Today we partnered with Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Twipes, Dion’s Dreamers, and Top Seedz to bring this event, free to the community, and encourage kids to explore book reading this summer and encourage literacy over summer break,” Buffalo Waterfront general manager Lauren Ford said. “We just love getting families out to Canalside in the summer, and this is really the kickoff to our children’s programming for the summer.”
From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the lawn was filled with many events for the whole family, including local author book readings and meet and greets, local bookstore vendors and lawn games. For the kids, there was an activity zone and an “Explore and More” table to take part in.
The Twipes team spoke to a few authors at Bookfest about their work.
Lisa Chrapowicz was at the event, promoting her latest book, “Bessie’s Big Adventures: In the City of Buffalo,” featuring a story about Bessie the cow, who comes from a farm in the rural Buffalo suburb of Little Valley and wants to travel to a big city.
Bessie travels to Buffalo and meets up with her friend, Pete the Pigeon, who gives her a tour of the city, including spots like Canalside, Explore and More, the Buffalo Zoo, and Delaware Park. The story ends with Bessie returning to the farm and telling her barnyard friends of her adventure, bringing them to a football game.
“She finds out that the grass is greener on the other side, but home is where the heart is, too,” Chrapowicz said. “I love the city of Buffalo, I want people to know how great Buffalo is and all the great things that they can do with their children. And for families, Buffalo is the ‘City of Good Neighbors’ and everybody should come and check it out.”
She said it was nice seeing families unplugging and sitting down and reading together and holding physical books in their hands.
“Children’s literacy is a huge component and I’m a big promoter of that,” she said. “I’m a firm believer in early literacy and it’s always been one of my major interests here in the early childhood field. So, whatever is developmentally appropriate and great for kids, I’m a huge proponent for that. Also, the book is fun for adults too because it has cow puns in it. you know, those school-age kids and adults will get a chuckle.”
Another proponent of giving back to kids who was at the festival is Mark Donnelly, PhD., who has published a slew of children’s books, including “But I Don’t Want to Be a Butterfly” and “A Journey for Peace,” with the addition of “The Tinkle Fairy’s Guide to Where to Powder Your Nose” on the way.
“I just like to write, and children’s books are fun,” he said. “It’s part of giving back. Every one of these books has a benefactor, every one has a charity that profits from the sale of these books.”
Donnelly’s forthcoming book is about the history and etymology of going to the bathroom, right in line with Twipes’ calling.
Twipes partnered with the event as a way to introduce eco-friendly truly flushable and biodegradable wet wipes to local parents and their kids.
“A lot of events Twipes has taken part in, from farmers markets to exercise classes and more, have been very adult-focused,” Twipes CEO Al Bozorgi said. “Last year, at a baseball game, we learned we very much have an audience with kids as well, and we thought what better place to help kids and their parents learn about what we do, than at a book fair? We’re very excited and feel very fortunate to be able to partner with the Buffalo Waterfront for this event.”
In addition to Twipes, included in the Dion’s Dreamers goodie bags were a book about the Celery mascot from the Buffalo Bisons, Top Seedz, a pail and shovel for building sandcastles, a coloring page, and a bookmark.
“We have a lot of kids friendly programming throughout the summer,” Ford said. “And then we also have some larger events that are family-friendly, everything from vendor markets to cultural programming with Asian cultural and Indian cultural festivals.”
If you’re interested in trying Twipes out for any of the above summer activities or more, click here to see the available product options.
