Manhattan Brewing Company and Jackalope Bookstore, a pop-up store, are coming back, hosting their second Grown-Up Book Fair on Saturday, Sept. 20. Located on Poyntz Ave., MBC is an event open to all ages.
According to mhkbeer.com, Manhattan Brewing Company boasts 19 years of experience in the craft beer industry, focusing on creating a family-friendly atmosphere. A more niche company located in Augusta is the Jackalope Bookstore, which hosts pop-up events.
Cora Johnson, who works for the bookstore, said she is thrilled to be a part of this event for its second year. The first event, also hosted with Manhattan Brewing Company in April 2024, was called “Independent Bookstore Day.” This event was a huge success and, to Johnson, “a dream come true.”
“Jake Voegeli is one of the three owners of Manhattan Brewing Company and is the sales & marketing director,” Johnson said. “He was incredible to work with. I don’t think the Grown-Up Book Fair was even over before he and I were having conversations about hosting a follow-up event in the fall.”
Voegeli, a member of the sales and marketing team for Manhattan Brewing Company, said he had this idea in mind since the beginning.
“We have wanted to do this since we opened and we met the owners of Jackalope who were super excited to do this with us,” Voegeli said. “It reminds us of the Scholastic Book Fairs we had as kids.”
Throughout this event, there were many successes for both businesses. Johnson found joy in seeing the community so engaged in their past events.
“In the first two hours of the sale, more than 100 community members left with books,” Johnson said. “Just like that, nearly half of our inventory was gone, and we had three hours of the sale remaining. At one point, I stood at the checkout table for nearly an hour straight, chatting with customers while ringing up their selections.”
The companies both had different goals for this event. Johnson felt her favorite aspect was helping new readers find a new book to dive into, whereas Voegeli loved new people trying the company’s craft beers and opening up their business to a broader audience.
“It was so neat to see people walk away with something they were excited to read,” Johnson said. “When I finally got time to walk away from the checkout table, I realized that many of our customers had stayed in the Manhattan Brewing Company loft space and were visiting with friends and family and enjoying good beer. … I had this cliche moment where I thought, ‘This is it.’ I wanted to create an event for adults to rediscover the kind of enthusiasm for reading we had as kids, and it felt like I’d really been able to bring that to Manhattan.”
As a pop-up bookstore, they have a limited inventory; the most difficult part of these events is picking what books to put out for the community. Johnson spends a lot of time researching best-selling authors and notes what is viral on “BookTok” during the time of the event.
“I want to make sure that I have a really strong selection available that can appeal to readers of any background,” she said. “For this event, I’m highlighting some spooky reads for peak autumn reading vibes, books written by Hispanic and Latino authors in honor of Hispanic Heritage month [Sept. 15 to Oct. 15], and featuring a selection of frequently banned or challenged books in honor of Banned Books Week [Oct. 5-11].”
Being an independent bookstore, Voegeli said Jackalope is enthusiastic and willing to try new things. Due to the turnout last year, they plan to increase the inventory for this upcoming event.
“As I mentioned, roughly half of our inventory was gone in the first two hours of our first event,” Johnson said. “This time, I want to make sure that even more customers have the chance to browse a wide selection throughout the duration of the book fair.”
Voegeli said he was surprised by how “many book lovers love craft beer.”
Before the event on Sept. 19 and during the event on Sept. 20, Manhattan Brewing Company’s Oktoberfest will happen simultaneously from noon to 10 p.m.
