For her first event as Inbound BrewCo.’s marketing and events coordinator, Rachel Silberman wanted to do something fun, something memorable, and preferably something involving books.
She figured it would be straightforward enough. After all, she already runs two independent book conventions, the romantasy-focused Fables and Flames and Case Closed Con for mystery, thriller, and crime fans. She decided on the name “Book Fair For Grown Ups,” gathered up some local booksellers and bookish crafters—Black Garnet Books, Tropes & Trifles, Once Upon a Crime—and started preparing for the Saturday in mid-January when book lovers would descend upon the Minneapolis brewery.
But she didn’t anticipate the full force of that descent.
“People were lined up before we even opened, down the block,” Silberman says. “You know that meme, that, ‘oh, no, no, no, no no’? That was what was going through my head on repeat.” The line stretched so far from the North Loop brewery’s front door that she remembers thinking the people looked like ants.
There was a time when you could scan local brewery event calendars and not see a single book-related event on the horizon. Now it seems like there’s something bookish going on every month, if not every week.
Brühaven Book Bash took place this May; Fat Pants held a Brewery Book Bash in June. Just a few weeks ago was Blackstack Brewing’s romance book fair, Hot Reads & Sweethearts, and Urban Growler is hosting a book lovers meet-up in August. Inbound’s latest Book Fair for Grown Ups just took over the Education Building at the State Fair last weekend, and this weekend, the third-annual #KidsLit Is Lit festival from Half Pint Co. will head for the parking lot at Arbeiter Brewing.
Rachel Cleveland from Little Charity Book Truck, the nonprofit mobile bookstore that pops up at events all over the Twin Cities, says she was surprised by the length of the list when she sat down to remember the breweries where she’s been.
“Unmapped, Brühaven, Back Channel, Broken Clock, Wooden Hill, Fulton, Utepils, Inbound, Forgotten Star, Fat Pants,” she ticks off on her fingers. “So, 10, and then some of them, we do multiple pop-ups throughout the summer.”
Little Charity Book Truck just started hitting the road last summer, a way for Cleveland to support the community and share her love of reading. (Every dollar spent goes to local organizations; last year, Cleveland donated $12,000 to youth-focused nonprofits V3 Sports and The Link.) The truck pulls up to farmers markets, festivals, and coffee shops, but breweries have been an unexpectedly powerful partner.
“Generally, breweries are a great, great fit, especially when we’re part of something else that’s going on,” she says, whether that’s trivia or a festival with other vendors or if it’s just a really nice day. “Some of our best sales days for kids books have actually been at breweries. Parents buy books for their kids, or activity books, because then the kids are occupied and the parents can have a conversation and chill out.”
“Before I had kids… I don’t think I would have ever put the two together in my brain—‘Let’s do kids’ events at a brewery,’” says Shelby Voeltz, who runs kid-focused event company Half Pint Co. with her best friend Michelle Halverson. “That doesn’t really feel like it would go together, but it’s such a perfect fit.”
The idea for Half Pint Co. was actually born with a children’s book, Dream Big Little Peanut, which Voeltz wrote and introduced with a launch party at Arbeiter several years ago. (Her husband, Josh, is one of the brewery’s co-owners.)
“I asked Josh, “Was that a good day for Arbeiter? Because it was a lot of fun,” she recalls. Half Pint Co. launched in 2023 and now does roughly six events at the brewery each year, including #KidsLit Is Lit, which is happening again this Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.
Halverson says that sometimes folks think authors only come out of the coasts; the festival was meant to highlight talented children’s authors right here in Minnesota. “Guess what, we’re here too! Doing big stuff!” she laughs. In fact, the Half Pint duo are about to realize an early dream of their own: printing and publishing children’s books. They have their first three books in the queue, and by next year, many of the festival’s authors will be Half Pint Press authors.
Of course, the joy of cracking open a new book while sipping a crisp lager is not new. The long-running Books & Bars book club, which visits Sociable Cider Werks, Utepils, and other local breweries, is currently in its 20th year.
But breweries are helping to bring together a new generation of readers. In Northfield, librarian Alexus Kreft recently launched the Glass Half Full book club, which meets monthly at Imminent Brewing.
“When I was hired, I noticed a really big gap in who we’re serving here at the library,” Kreft says, noting that Northfield Public Library offers robust youth and teen programming; senior citizens already visit regularly or take advantage of the library’s home delivery service. “But there’s this missing middle that’s eternally difficult to reach because they’re super busy, and also with libraries, they don’t really see it as a place for them.”
Kreft remembered a book club when she lived down in Iowa that was held at a pub, and when she realized how “embedded in the community” Imminent is, always hosting fundraisers and neighborhood events, it just made sense to ask about hosting Glass Half Full there. For her, the most rewarding part of the book club isn’t discussing themes or correctly identifying motifs, but getting everyone together and watching friendships form.
“We finish our book club, and then there’s another at least half an hour, sometimes longer… there’s always people staying and chatting and getting to know one another,” Kreft says, “which is really what it’s all about.”
And as for last weekend’s Book Fair For Grown Ups on the fairgrounds? It was huge once again, with thousands in attendance (so many that some TikTokers have feedback for making things run more smoothly in the future). Little Charity Book Truck’s Cleveland says it was their biggest fundraising day ever, by far.
“We’re just gonna keep growing,” Inbound’s Silberman says. They’ve already talked about introducing a stage where they could have readings and panels, and her plan is to do four or more book-related events a year. “I’m hoping to do Book Fair For Grown Ups until people stop coming, really.”
“It just seems like reading is ticking up again,” Cleveland adds. “I think people just kind of need an escape.”
