Philadelphia now has its own Literacy Day, and it’s this Saturday

It’s a bit far off until International Literacy Day on Sept. 8 and National Family Literacy Day on Nov. 1, so why not celebrate a Literacy Day just for our city this Saturday?

Philadelphia Literacy Day, hosted by North Philly nonprofit Tree House Books, is having its inaugural kickoff May 13 as a “celebration of Philadelphia as a city of readers, writers and thinkers.”

The signature event on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Smith Memorial Playground will feature poetry walls, story times, free pretzels and water ice, with a book flea market. If you’re closer to the Kimmel Center, you can stop by there for some similar activities, like a story time session on the stage in the Commonwealth Plaza.

Join Tree House Books for #PhiladelphiaLiteracyDay on May 13th at @SmithPlayground from 11-3! 🌻☀️📚❤️ pic.twitter.com/NAd8sAnu80

— Tree House Books (@TreeHouse_Books) April 27, 2017

Can’t make it to Saturday’s festivities? Tree House Books is having a game night at their Susquehanna Avenue location, and for the older crowd, a happy hour fundraiser for the nonprofit at Llama Tooth.

It was late last year when Michael Reid left the executive director position at Tree House Books after serving in the position since 2013. Now June Bretz as interim executive director seems to be making some good strides with celebrations like these while adding to the literacy efforts of the city and nearby Temple professors.