The story behind the Better Off Read fest at Artpark

By Ian Kinney

Special to Niagara Frontier Publications

Dear Readers,

My name is Ian Kinney. I’m a writer from Lewiston, and I run a small, nonprofit publishing company out of rented office space at my former elementary school, Stella Niagara. This Aug. 31, at Artpark State Park, I’m presenting the third annual Better Off Read Summer Book Festival.

This free-to-attend, all-ages literary festival is meant to encourage reading, promote writing, and celebrate storytelling. The event will feature a large, discounted book sale; over 70 local vendors, food trucks and other concessions; complimentary attractions, fun surprises, and much more.

Additionally, the festival is tremendously proud to present a special $1 per ticket celebrity-sponsored basket raffle. This year’s special donors include Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Matthew McConaughey, Kerry Washington, Chris Pine, Anna Kendrick, Mark Wahlberg, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, Stephen Colbert, “South Park,” “Bob's Burgers,” Colleen Hoover, Neil Gaiman, David Byrne, Wilco, Pearl Jam, Blink 182, songwriting icon Bob Dylan, filmmaking legend George Lucas, global superstar Billie Eilish, and many more.

This event means the absolute world to me. I could never put into words how proud of it I am. Plus, it's nothing short of a genuine dream come true for me to have so many of my favorite movie stars, authors, comedians, musicians and more supporting it. Numerous people have asked me how I’ve been able to get so many big celebrities to donate. …

And, well, it’s kind of a long story.

OK, so the first thing that I need you all to understand is that just getting to call myself a “writer” is already a massive dream come true for me. I spent my whole life hoping I’d become one, but I don’t think I ever believed it would actually happen. For years and years, I just wrote stuff for my friends. Jokes, poems, short stories. I’d write my heart out night after night and then pretty much just post it all on social media. Nobody was paying me to do it, but I honestly still found it incredibly rewarding. Because it made people happy. It felt like every day I’d bump into someone around Lewiston, and they’d just immediately tell me how hard they’d laughed at something I’d written, or how much they’d enjoyed one of my stories.

Before I even knew it, I’d just fallen absolutely in love with the idea of the silly stuff I wrote being sent out into the world and bringing people joy. So, I just kept at it and tried even harder. And, along the way, things I never thought possible started happening. I began gaining thousands of followers on Twitter – including a few famous people and comedians I idolized. I had a screencap of something I’d written go viral on Reddit and receive over a million views in less than a day. I got invited to be a guest on one of my favorite podcasts. Twice.

And, even though I may have never believed I’d actually become a real writer, it felt like all of my friends in and around Lewiston that I grew up with never doubted for a single second that I was one. So, little by little, people started reaching out and offering me money to write stuff for them. At first, it was friends just looking for help with wedding speeches or presentations for work or school. But it eventually led to a bunch of local businesses and politicians hiring me to write stuff for their various websites, Facebook pages, newsletters, etc.

But it wasn’t just getting paid to write or receiving the extra attention online that made me finally believe that I was a real writer. Those were the big things, but there were so many little things throughout the years, too. Like, when a friend told me she had read one of my stories to her 8-year-old son, and he had enjoyed it so much that he’d tried writing his own version of it afterward. Or, when I discovered my mom had been printing out all of my Facebook posts for years at her office and bringing them home so my dad could read them at night. Or, just every single time someone I didn't even know stopped me inside Tops or outside Orange Cat to say something nice about my writing.

It was just all of that stuff and more that finally made me realize that I never needed to become a real writer. Because I'd been one all along.

Back in 2019, after a dozen-plus years of just kinda grinding it out, the priest from my former Catholic elementary school reached out to me. He'd been following my writing online for years, and he asked if I'd be interested in helping him out at the nonprofit publishing company he ran out of Stella. I accepted, and it quickly spun into a full-time job working alongside him. About one year later, he announced his plans to retire at the end of 2020. And he asked me if I wanted to take over the company.

And I just couldn't even believe it. I still can't, to be honest with you.

For so long, I really was just a goofball who liked writing stuff that made his friends happy.

But now, all these years later, as the director of a nonprofit publisher, I get to make it part of my actual job to work toward spreading the joys and benefits of reading to the local community and beyond.

So that's why I throw this festival.

It's to encourage reading, promote writing, and celebrate storytelling, because those things changed my entire life.

But, honestly, to me, this event is about so much more than just that. This festival is my way of trying to thank all of my friends and so many members of my community for always encouraging me, supporting me, and believing in me, even when I didn't believe in myself.

My dream came true, and I became a writer.

But it's only because so many people in my life were willing to read.

And so, now, to finally answer the question that we originally started with: How did I get a ton of the biggest celebrities in the entire world to donate to a small-town book festival?

Well, in all sincerity, as silly as it sounds, I just did what I’ve always done.

I wrote to them.

I really hope you will all consider attending the third annual Better Off Read Summer Book Festival on Saturday, Aug. 31, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Artpark State Park. Please visit our website, www.betteroffreadfestival.com, for more information. This event would never be possible without the help of my incredible assistant and friend, Marlee Jaeger.

Scenes from past Better Off Read Summer Book Festival events. (Submitted photo)

More about Better Off Read

Courtesy of Artpark & Company

Join us in the Lower Park on Saturday, Aug. 31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the third annual Better Off Read Summer Book Festival; a free-to-attend, all-ages event meant to promote reading, encourage writing, and celebrate storytelling.

The festival, presented by local writer Ian Kinney, features thousands of books on sale for $5 or less; vendor booths by local authors, artists and merchants; a variety of food trucks and other concessions; kid-friendly activities such as storytelling, face-painting and balloon animals; plus much more.

Additionally, for the third year in a row, the festival is proud to present a special basket raffle with gifts donated by some of the world’s best storytellers. This year’s star-studded list of celebrity donors includes Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Matthew McConaughey, Sarah Silverman, Neil Gaiman, Colleen Hoover, David Byrne, Wilco, Pearl Jam, Blink 182, legendary icon Bob Dylan, superstar Billie Eilish, and more!

Local sponsors to this year’s festival include BirchTree Fotos, Kelly’s Beauty Bar, Niagara Sports Tournaments, Orange Cat Coffee Co., Power City Eatery, Read It & Eat, The Village Bake Shoppe, Youngstown Village Diner, and others.

To learn more, become a vendor, become a sponsor, or make a donation: please visit www.BetterOffReadFestival.com.

The Better Off Read Summer Book Festival is an annual literary festival held in Lewiston with the mission to encourage reading, promote writing, and celebrate storytelling. The first Better Off Read Summer Book Festival took place at Stella Niagara on July 9, 2022. The event was sponsored by more than two-dozen local small businesses, including Favorite’s Pizza, The Brickyard Pub 7 BBQ and Orange Cat Coffee Co., as well as larger local companies and organizations such as the Buffalo Bisons, the Buffalo Bandits and Wegmans. The event was a massive success and allowed for the festival to return again the following year.

The second annual Better Off Read Summer Book Festival was held at Stella Niagara on July 15, 2023. The sophomore year for the event doubled the number of local vendors present and incorporated a number of new attractions for attendees to enjoy. Also, in addition to the large number of local sponsors, the event received support from 40-plus popular celebrities, including Bruce Springsteen, Tony Hawk, Foo Fighters, Sarah Silverman, Bill Burr, Chris Pine, Aubrey Plaza and Lin Manuel Miranda.