Waldo is Hiding in Maplewood

Waldo is celebrating his 25th birthday here in Maplewood, and if you spot him enough, you could win prizes, including buttons, books, food and movie tickets.

It’s part of an all July-long celebration of Waldo and small businesses in Maplewood. In conjunction with Where’s Waldo publisher Candlewick Press, the American Press Association and the Maplewood Village Alliance, the contest promotes literacy and supporting small businesses in a historically slow month for retailers, according to [words] Bookstore Event Coordinator Sara Nevius.

“For the whole month of July, 20 businesses in Maplewood will have a 6-inch cardboard Waldo hiding in each store,” said Nevius. “It’s up to the store if they want to move Waldo every day.”    

To participate, just pick up a “Find Waldo in Maplewood” search list at [words] with the names of all 20 businesses. Then, when you find Waldo, report it to the store in which you found it and collect an “I Found Waldo at _____” card. You can collect one card per business. When you collect 8 cards, turn them in at [words] to claim a Waldo button. When you collect 16, turn them in to [words] to be entered into a drawing for more prizes, donated by participating businesses. The Grand Prize is a complete six-volume set of Waldo books.

On July 31, [words] will hold a celebration for the final day at 4 p.m. where the winners will be announced.

Participating business are from [words] Bookstore at 179 Maplewood Ave to HLS Restaurant at 1859 Springfield Ave; from the Maplewood Theater at 155 Maplewood Ave to The Cupcake Corral at 410 Ridgewood Ave.

Waldo was created by Martin Handford in 1987. His entertaining crowd scene picture books were quick to gain popularity and have been a mainstay in school libraries and bookstores since. There are now over 55 million Waldo books in print worldwide and they’ve been translated into 18 languages.