Inaugural Crozet Book Fest is all familiarity and no formality

Then again, “we always joke that it’s not your grandmother’s bookstore,” Flannery Buchanan, owner of Bluebird & Co. bookstore in Crozet, told The Daily Progress. The shop’s community focus and support of homegrown talent are giving the new festival its own fall flavor.

All events are within walking distance of Bluebird & Co., the festival’s host and home base, at 5792 Three Notch’d Road. Buchanan said overflow parking is available at the nearby Crozet United Methodist Church at 1156 Crozet Ave.

“We’ve always wanted to do it, but it was a 2025-2026 thing, and we thought we’d try a smaller one first,” Buchanan said while returning from an errand to pick up folding tables for the festival. “We have a really nice network of local authors that we’ve grown close to; friends of friends sounded like a safe way to start.”

Starting small and strollable and keeping the focus on local authors and the readers who enjoy discovering them helps the new festival stay informal and welcoming. A homegrown book deserves the same embrace as a handmade work of art.

“A book signing sounds very stuffy and niche,” Buchanan said. When a reader loves a book they can’t put down, “you appreciate the work so much more when you know the person. It’s a whole other layer of appreciation.”

Plans for the fest started to form around Memorial Day, when organizers realized that there were so many book releases scheduled for autumn that a larger gathering made sense.

The festival kicks off at 5 p.m. Friday with “Bookish Trivia” at Starr Hill, at 5391 Three Notch’d Road.

Saturday’s festivities start at 9 a.m. with the family fun of pumpkin decorating with Hannah Barnaby at Mudhouse Coffee Roasters at 5793 the Square.

It’s followed by “So You Want to Be a Writer?” at 10 a.m. at Bar Botanical at 2025 Library Ave., where Elle Cosimano, Kathryn Erskine, Bruce Holsinger and Jo Piazza will take part in a question-and-answer session about what it’s really like to be a writer. Books will be available for purchase and signing.

“Sliding Doors,” at noon Saturday at Bar Botanical, will feature authors Audrey Ingram, Rachel McRady, Sara Read and Johanna Copeland in a discussion of the forks in the road one can encounter in writing and life in general. Samantha Koon Jones will serve as moderator.

Jones, who is the The Daily Progress’ book critic, said she looks forward to sharing not only the authors and their works with audience members, but also the supportive book-loving community Buchanan has created through her Crozet shop.

“I think Saturday’s event is just about celebrating the written word and celebrating authors and celebrating local authors,” Jones said, adding that Bluebird & Co. is “approachable, too. I think that’s important.”

“Flannery has formed a great community. It’s got a great girl-power vibe to it. I feel like Lucy Ricardo getting ready for this.”

Next is “Building Empathy,” which explores the power of fiction to help instill empathy in readers. It begins at 1:30 p.m. at Mudhouse.

“Stories and S’mores,” set for 2 p.m. at the Yellow Mug at 1260 Crozet Ave., offers readers a chance to hear readings by authors of books for readers in middle grades and young-adult selections while sampling s’mores around a campfire. By Tuesday, there already were more than 40 reservations for the event, Buchanan said.

“That’s a really hard demographic to reach,” Buchanan added.

Next on the schedule is “C’ville Fantastic” at 2:30 p.m. at Mudhouse. That’s where James Blakey, Tim Freer, Kurt Johnson, Deidra Whitt Lovegren, Karen M. Kumor and Catherine Simpson will talk about the new compilation of fantasy stories they’ve set in and near Charlottesville.

At 3:30 p.m., “Planning the Perfect Murder,” also at Mudhouse, will feature authors Olivia Blacke, Elle Cosimano, KT Nguyen, Katharine Schellman and Polly Stewart, who’ll speak with Johanna Copeland.

The final event, at 5 p.m. at Starr Hill, is “Mad Libs with Audiobook Narrators.” Marni Penning will present dramatic readings of crowd-created Mad Libs, bringing the first fest to a close with some fill-in-the-blank fun.

Every event is free, but reservations are requested for “Building Empathy,” “Stories and S’mores,” “So You Want to Be a Writer?” and the pumpkin decorating for planning purposes. Make reservations online at bluebirdcrozet.com.