A Free Festival Unites Book Lovers
The Word on the Street is a non-profit organization that celebrates literacy. Each year, the organization hosts a free, annual outdoor festival, providing an opportunity for book lovers to meet award-winning authors, browse new releases and come face to face with Canadian publishers offering everything from non-fiction to children’s literature.
The festival began as a way to promote Canadian authors, books and magazines and to advocate for the importance of literacy in society. “We’re promoting literacy for those who seek to learn how to read, and promoting Canadian publishing to those who know how to read and are looking for something good to jump into next,” says Evan Munday, Interim Director, The Word on the Street.
Publishers, Authors Talks and More!
The first Word on the Street Festival was in 1990 and saw 40,000 attendees and vendors who lined Toronto’s Queen Street West from Spadina to Simcoe. Now in its 27th year, the festival sees over 200,000 participants and has relocated to Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre.
Attendees can spend the day perusing book displays from hundreds of publishers, bookstores and arts organizations at the festival’s exhibitor marketplace or head to programming stages and meet authors who are reading and discussing their new works. The Word on the Street Festival is now held in four cities: Toronto, Saskatoon, Lethbridge and Halifax and over the years, has featured some of Canada’s most celebrated authors including M.G. Vassanji, Richard B. Wright, Elizabeth Hay, Timothy Findley, Margaret Atwood and David Suzuki.
How Entripy Helps
It takes a lot of people to pull off a festival of this size. The Word on the Street has a team of 250 volunteers who provide information to attendees and guide authors to their stages. All Word on the Street volunteers are outfitted in bright coloured, sharply printed custom t-shirts screen-printed by Entripy. These special event customized t-shirts are key to identifying volunteers and staff at the festival, ensuring guests can quickly locate these individuals when they need assistance.
Each year, the festival also designs commemorative t-shirts to sell to event attendees. “Entripy provides quick and affordable printing for these for-sale shirts,” says Munday. These limited edition custom t-shirts are an important revenue generating component of the event and they provide guests with a takeaway item to remember the event long after it’s passed.
Next time you’re walking the streets of Toronto, look out for these commemorative Word on the Street custom printed t-shirts on the backs of avid readers.
