Written by Anna Bacon
Image courtesy of Ex Libris
Dressed in costumes, fan T-shirts and equipped with lightsabers, fans of all ages joined on Saturday, Oct. 9 at Ex Libris from 1 to 3 p.m. for a country-wide event that celebrated Star Wars and the importance of reading.
“’Star Wars Reads’ is a national event that’s being pulled off at a lot of college bookstores and public libraries,” said Ex Libris store manager Michael Kent.
At Ex Libris fans celebrated ‘Star Wars Reads’ with a focus on the books as well as group crafts in hopes to “add to the joy of reading,” according to Kent.
“I’m obsessed with Star Wars,” said Kristen Davies, first-year fashion design major from Barnegat, NJ. “I’m going to the midnight premiere [of “The Force Awakens”] dressed up. “I feel like a lot of people don’t realize that Star Wars is a book series, so when people come they’re going to see the books and be like ‘Oh! I can read them now!’”
The day’s activities included face painting, bingo, trivia, coloring sheets, live readings of Star Wars books for children and adults as the Star Wars movies played in the background.
“It connects us to the SCAD community” said Shelby Williams, third-year fibers major from Fayetteville, Arkansas who works at Ex Libris.
A smoke machine set off the fire alarms during the event, and the party was paused momentarily for firemen to check out the scene, but that didn’t stop people from coming back and enjoying the event.
A steady flow of people stopped by throughout “Star Wars Reads” and Ex Libris hopes to see more people come to future events, such as their customer appreciation day in the coming weeks.
“The Force Awakens” will be released on Dec. 18, 2015.
For more news and offers from Ex Libris, check out the store’s website.
