Thousands of Books Being Given Awayat Frontier’s Fall into Reading Festivalon Saturday, October 19

The Frontier Central School District’s Fall into Reading Festival, which started two years ago to get books into the hands of youngsters, has grown into a true community event for all ages.

This year’s event takes place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, October 19 at Frontier Middle School, 2751 Amsdell Road, Hamburg. It’s part of the American Federation of Teacher’s (AFT) and First Book’s “Reading Opens the World” campaign.

Amber Chandler, an English language arts teacher at Frontier Middle School and the president of the Frontier Central Teachers Association (FCTA), is the event’s founder. Fall into Reading celebrates literacy, the arts, STEM, health, wellness, safety, and character education.

“The FCTA’s goal in creating this event was to collaborate with the community to create a family-friendly, free event to celebrate literacy,” Chandler added.

“This is a community celebration of literacy,” Chandler said. “There will be no-tech family fun such as face painting, coloring stations, free games, a reading room, hair and nail stations, woodworking, and a chance to visit with community partners.”

The event started in 2022 after Chandler received a grant from the AFT and First Book in August of that year. Despite having a little more than a month to put it together, Chandler and a large group of volunteers pulled it off. Last year’s event built on that success.

“Last year was packed the whole time,” Chandler said. “We had a great turnout with amazing volunteers. Everything ran very smoothly.”

The event is co-sponsored by the Frontier Central School District and the Erie 1 Professional Education Association. Community partners expected to take part include the Buffalo Zoo, the Buffalo History Museum, Frontier PTAs, student clubs, student musicians, the district “Farm to School” program, the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, the Hamburg Police Department, the Hamburg Fire Department, and Hamburg Fire Companies. There will also be Smash Brothers and Frontier CSD food trucks available.

A total of 9,200 books have been given away in the first two years of the event.

“We have created an event that we hope is a fall festival tradition for the Frontier community,” Chandler said. “More people are aware of the event now, so we are excited to spread the love of reading to even more families.”

They’ve done that, and more. Let the fun begin.

NOTE: Amber Chandler is available for interviews. Please contact Public Relations Director Bill Bruton to coordinate the interviews.

PHOTO): Books, books, books! Thousands of books were given away to area youngsters at last year’s event.

Bill Bruton
Public Relations Director
Frontier Central School District
Office: 716-926-1700, ext. 1798
Cell: 716-462-1588