Garden Party Books

Booktoberfest!
2024-10-12 11:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
Thesis Beer Project is coming to Garden Party Books!

We’re celebrating Booktoberfest with a beer garden! Get a pint of delicious Thesis beer to drink as you browse all the books. We’ll also have soft pretzels and hot cider for sale!

It’s the absolutely perfect way to spend a fall day at an independent bookstore (while getting to enjoy local brews)!

Local Author Event: Should've Been Dead
2024-09-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
We’re so excited to celebrate local authors Rory Londer and Sweta Patel! Come hear Rory’s incredible story of drug addiction, homelessness, healing, and owning his own business (and much of the story takes place in Rochester). He has gone on to inspire so many people, including many of Sweta’s students at Rochester’s Alternative Learning Center.

This is an incredible story, and you do not want to miss this event.

We’ll have a reading, Q&A, and signing, and their book, Should’ve Been Dead: Lessons from a Crack Addict Who Broke Free, will be available ahead of time at Garden Party and the night of for $12.99.

Climate Book Club: Braiding Sweetgrass
2024-09-10 18:00 - 19:30 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
Garden Party is hosting the Climate Book Club!

[Formerly we said it was happening at 7PM, but it is in fact at 6! Sorry for my error!]

The group will meet on September 10 at 6 PM at Garden Party to discuss Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

This is an absolutely beautiful book and it’s sure to inspire a wonderful discussion.

You can purchase the book at Garden Party for $20 or you can buy it online through Garden Party at https://bookshop.org/a/55554/9781571313560 and it will be shipped right to your house!

Sign up by emailing maryh@conservationminnesota.org. Mary will send you a reminder email in early September.

Bookstore Romance Day
2024-08-17 10:00 - 17:00 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
Did you know that romance is the highest earning and most popular genre of fiction? Romance is the backbone of the book industry, and we want to celebrate all of the incredible romance readers out there!

For Bookstore Romance Day, we’ve got fantastic sales:

1. All books in the Romance Room are $3!2. All Love/Friendship cards are $3.50!3. All Romance candles are $10 (choose romance reader, *spicy* romance, fantasy romance, or book boyfriend)!

Local Author Festival!
2024-07-20 10:00 - 17:00 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
Come out for our second annual Local Author Festival! We’ll have writers in all kinds of genres here to tell you about their books and sign them for you too! Meet your new favorite author!

Summer Sale: 50% off Used Books!
2024-06-29 10:00 - 17:00 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
We need more shelf space for all the great donations coming in, so please come purchase the current amazing used books at 50% off!

Boo Can't Poo Launch Party!
2024-06-21 18:00 - 19:30 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
Come celebrate Rochester author Iris Wang and the release of her book, Boo Can’t Poo!

We”ll be celebrating her achievement with snacks and drinks, a reading, books for sale, and the chance to get your booked signed!

Get ready to giggle with Boo Can’t Poo, the hilarious board book sure to get your little ones laughing and pooping! Join Boo the constipated ghost on his quest to get his bowels moving with the help of his ghostly family. With silly rhymes and cute illustrations, this book is perfect for reading aloud and sharing some laughs whenever constipation strikes!

Written by Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist, Xiao Jing “Iris” Wang, MD, Boo Can’t Poo also includes helpful tips for parents on how to manage constipation in toddlers at home. From high-fiber food to squatting on the potty, you’ll get expert advice to keep your little ones healthy and happy.

This adorable board book is perfect for kids all year round. So whether you’re dealing with a case of the constipation blues or just looking for a fun silly read, Boo Can’t Poo is the perfect addition to any little pooper’s library.

Book Fair at Thesis Beer Project!
2024-05-31 15:00 - 19:00 | Thesis Beer Project, 1929 2nd St SW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55902, United States
You know the meme: “The scholastic book fair. For adults. At a bar.”

In collaboration with our friends at Thesis Beer Project, we’re once again making your memes come true. Join us for an end-of-the-school-year/start of the summer event.

In addition to the book sale and special drinks on tap, Bleu Duck Truck will be in the back parking lot! Expect teacher appreciation deals and a few arts and crafts as well. Music starts at 7!

Pride Celebration!
2024-05-18 10:00 - 17:00 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
We’re so excited for Rochester Pride this Saturday! It’s happening at Soldier’s Field from 12-5PM!

Stop by Garden Party on Saturday dressed up for Pride and get 50% off one item of your choice! Book, print, game, toy, pin, whatever you like!

For more info on the tons of Pride activities happening this week in Rochester, follow the Rochester MN Pride Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/RochMNPride

Spring Sale!
2024-05-12 13:00 - 17:00 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
SPRING SALE! We’ve been doing spring cleaning and we have lots of items we need to clear to make space for new things!

In the Craft Room we’ll have items with pink stickers:

FRIDAY, MAY 10: 30% off those itemsSATURDAY, MAY 11: 50% off those itemsSUNDAY, MAY 12: 70% off those items

We’ll also have selected $1 greeting cards!

AND lots of these items make great Mother’s Day Gifts! Picture Frames, ceramic decor, games, and more!

See you there!

Independent Bookstore Day!
2024-04-27 10:00 - 17:00 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
Come celebrate Independent Bookstore Day with us! We’re going to have tons of treats, prizes, and fun stuff going on!

Rochester Poetry Forum
2024-04-25 18:30 - 20:00 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
Come to Rochester’s poetry forum in a space that’s acoustically controlled! Join us on the 2nd & 4th Thursday evenings each month to share this evocative, enriching art form in a casual setting where we can read and share our own or favorite published authors’ works.

Come to Garden Party Books on 7th St. NW. We’ll have the place to ourselves, as the store will be closed when we meet. See you there!

To keep up with Rochester Poetry, you can follow them on Facebook here!

Climate Book Club: All We Can Save
2024-04-24 19:00 - 20:30 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
This book club will meet on three Wednesday evenings to discuss All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, a book that intermixes essays and poetry from women at the forefront of the climate movement. You can come to one meeting or all three!

Dates:April 10: Root, Advocate, Reframe (pgs 1-146)April 24: Reshape, Persist, Feel (pgs 147–283)May 8: Nourish, Rise, Onward (pgs 287-374)

Register for this free event here: https://secure.everyaction.com/T4vl0psvCkKBZM4FkmktrQ2

This program is sponsored by Conservation Minnesota.

You can purchase the book through Garden Party here:https://bookshop.org/a/55554/9780593237083

Vintage Market at LTS Brewing Company
2024-04-13 12:00 - 15:00 | LTS Brewing Company, 2001 32ND AVENUE NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
Mark your calendars for the LTS Vintage Market on Saturday, April 13th! Garden Party Books will be there with a fun collection of gorgeous vintage books!

And there’s lots of other great vendors: -Kismet-Chappie’s-Refashion-JoJo’s FUNky Threads-Clover & Rose

There’s nothing like vintage shopping with the weather warming up and a drink in hand…cheers!

Local Author Event: All-American
2024-03-23 19:00 - 20:30 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
The All-American is a deeply funny and poignant coming-of-age tale that turns the American immigrant narrative on its head.

In the woods behind a trailer park in rural Washington, Bucky, a Korean-American high school senior, trains alone with a tire tied to his waist to pursue his singular goal: to play college football. But when the U.S. government deports him and the South Korean Army conscripts him, he finds himself alone in the country of his birth and caught in the underbelly of a forgotten yet bitter war. To make it out safely and earn his ticket home, Beyonghak must face tough but essential questions about his family legacy and personal identity, at last parsing the difference between the roles he is expected to play and the type of man he wants to become.

Come meet the author, Joe Milan Jr! He’ll be doing a reading, answer your burning questions, and sign books! Don’t miss it!

Want to learn more? Check out his interview with Kerri Miller of MPR!

Make Ukrainian Easter Eggs!
2024-03-18 18:30 - 20:30 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
Register Now!

Learn how to make pysanky, Ukrainian Easter Eggs! This process involves dyeing eggs, covering the color you want to remain in melted beeswax using a tool called a kistka, and then dyeing the egg the next color. At the end all the wax is melted away to reveal gorgeous colors and patterns. This beginner class for people age 12 and up will teach you to create two eggs with simplified designs.

$35 per participant

Register Now!

Pill Hill Release Party!
2024-03-08 19:00 - 20:30 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
Rochester author and illustrator, Nic Breutzman, invites you to the book release party for his new graphic novel, Pill Hill.

There will be copies of the book for sale, an author reading and signing, and a Q&A session.

Pill Hill, Nicholas Breutzman’s darkly funny and utterly heartbreaking memoir, plunges the reader into a world of horrifying Tinder dates, flea markets, lizard people, child protective services, black holes, time travel, and stress-induced psychosis.

https://uncivilizedbooks.com/pill-hill/

Valentine Craftaganza!
2024-02-05 18:30 - 20:30 | Garden Party Books
REGISTER NOW!

Come for a fun, chill evening making wildly over the top valentines!

We’ve got doilies, we’ve got glitter, we’ve got floral washi tape, we’ve got fun scissors and punches, we’ve got plastic gems, we’ve got everything you need to make the Valentines of your dreams (and that could be froo-froo, dark and weird, or super goofy, these are YOUR valentines.)

Play around with our craft materials, make as many valentines as you want, and leave the glitter on our floor.

All ages (under 12 should attend with an adult), $10 a person

REGISTER NOW!

Postcards for Peace
2024-01-30 18:00 - 20:00
I (Anna) have been feeling pretty hopeless about the situation in Gaza. I’ve emailed my reps, I’ve donated money, and people just keep dying and dying (Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages and more).

Some of you have probably had similar feelings. Let’s join together to let our representatives know what’s important to us. Garden Party is hosting an event to create postcards to send to our representative, our senators, our president, and our vice president. We’ll be asking for a ceasefire so civilian lives can be protected, humanitarian aid can be let through, and hostage negotiations can be carried out.

We’ll provide the postcards and writing/art materials and addresses and will accept donations for postage. Any donations above the postage costs will be sent to Doctors Without Borders.

This event is free, all ages are welcome, and you can come in anytime during the two hour period. We hope to see you there!

50% Off Used Books Sale!
2024-01-27 10:00 - 17:00 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
Guys! We survived the cold snap! We need a treat: a 50% off all used books sale at Garden Party, this Saturday, from 10AM to 5PM!

Holiday Craft Class: Christmas Stars
2023-12-11 19:00 - 20:30 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
Register Now!

Learn how to fold a Christmas star, a traditional Christmas ornament. We have all kinds of colors of paper, and you’ll be able to make up to 5 stars before the night is over! They make wonderful gifts, gift tags, or beautiful decorations for your own home. These can be a little tricky, and finally getting it right is deeply satisfying. We’ll make sure you get there!

This is our third year of doing this class, and it keeps getting better and better. This year I have the best instructional method yet! You don’t want to miss it!

For ages 10+$15 per person

Register Now!

No spots left! Holiday Craft Class: Christmas Stars
2023-12-07 19:00 - 20:30 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
There are no longer spots in this class, but there are still spots in the Monday night class!

Learn how to fold a Christmas star, a traditional Christmas ornament. We have all kinds of colors of paper, and you’ll be able to make up to 5 stars before the night is over! They make wonderful gifts, gift tags, or beautiful decorations for your own home. These can be a little tricky, and finally getting it right is deeply satisfying. We’ll make sure you get there!

This is our third year of doing this class, and it keeps getting better and better. This year I have the best instructional method yet! You don’t want to miss it!

For ages 10+$15 per person

Register Now!

Zumbrota Literary Society Small Business Saturday
2023-11-25 10:00 - 17:00 | Zumbrota Literary Society, 320 East Ave, Zumbrota, Minnesota, 55992, United States
Get a whole grocery bag of books for $9! Plus lots of amazing gifts (photo frames, ceramic coasters, decorative ceramic tiles, flower frogs) are 50% off!

You can fit SO MANY books in a grocery bag! And we have amazing books! Don’t miss it!

Garden Party Books Black Friday
2023-11-24 10:00 - 17:00 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
For Black Friday, get 25% off your most expensive item, OR get 20% your purchase of $100 or more! We rarely discount non-book items, this is your chance!

Holiday Shopping Kickoff!
2023-11-14 18:00 - 21:00 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
On November 14 we are putting out all of the holiday everything! Christmas books, many in perfect condition, for kids and adults! Gift wrap! Christmas and Hanukkah cards! New vintage state puzzle ornaments! Needlepoint ornaments! Garlands! Restocked gifts perfect for gift lovers: book earrings, bookmarks, book candles, book tea, all of it!

To get first dibs, come that evening! We’ll have Christmas music, hot chocolate, glogg (Scandinavian mulled wine), and a really fun time. You could have all your Christmas shopping done by mid-November! Go you!

And if you miss this event, we’ll still have so much good stuff! Come when you can!

Local Rochester Poetry Reading!
2023-10-26 18:30 - 20:00 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
We have eight local poets coming to read at Garden Party Books as part of the Agates IndyBookStore Tour, sponsored by the League of Minnesota Poets.

League of Minnesota Poets (LOMP) will be in Rochester celebrating its “Agates IndyBookStore Tour,” the statewide book tour for their 86th volume of poetry, Agates. Rochester LOMP members Christina Flaugher, Lisa Higgs, Susan McMillan, Jean Prokott, Pam Sinicrope, Steve Vogel, Bob Vogt, and Nancy Hengeveld, our featured artists, will read from their work.

Agates will be for sale, along with the poets’ books. The poets will also be happy to sign them! Come celebrate local art!

FREE!

Garden Party Books's Second Birthday!
2023-10-14 10:00 - 17:00 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
Come celebrate Garden Party Books’s second birthday!

On Saturday, October 14, from 10AM-5PM, we’ll have so many fun things to do:

1. A $1 book sale on the patio!2. A bookstore scavenger hunt. Complete it and get a $5 coupon for your next visit!3. Rochester’s Poet Laureate Jean Prokott will be at the Literary Help Booth from 1-3PM!4. Megan of The Rooted Pine will do another Send More Mail activity. Write letters to the people you love!5. We’ll have free confetti cookies!

Can’t wait to see you there!

Book Launch Party!
2023-10-07 19:00 - 22:00 | Thesis Beer Project, 1929 2nd St SW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55902, United States
We’ll be back at Thesis Beer Project on Saturday, October 7, for a book launch party for Just Stay Away, a thriller by Rochester author Tony Wirt!

The book has been available on Kindle prior to paperback release, reaching #1 in Horror Suspense, and #26 in the ENTIRE KINDLE STORE!

At the party we’ll have books available for purchase, Tony will be there to sign them, and everyone who buys a copy will get a free beer from Thesis. Come celebrate an amazing local writer!

Adult Book Fair at the Brewery!
2023-09-26 15:00 - 19:30 | Thesis Beer Project, 1929 2nd St SW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55902, United States
You know the meme: “The scholastic book fair. For adults. At a bar.”

In collaboration with our friends at Thesis Beer Project, we’re once again making your memes come true! Join us for a back to school event, where teachers receive 20 percent off everything from Garden Party! Have a fun autumn day browsing books and drinking beer. We’ll also have lots of book fair treats like bookmarks, stickers, pins, and more!

Local Author Festival!
2023-08-19 10:00 - 17:00 | Garden Party Books, 602 7th St NW, Rochester, Minnesota, 55901, United States
We’re hosting a new event!

We’re bringing together a whole crew of local authors! Check out the wide variety of literary talent we have in our town–it’s going to be a fun day!

[Image description: The words “Local Author Festival – Come celebrate local authors! They’ll be on hand to sell and sign their books. Meet your new favorite writer! Saturday, August 19, 10AM-5PM.” On the right there’s a graphic of a stack of books, and two titles read “Taco Food Truck!” and “Spend $100, Get a Free Indie Bookstore Tote!]
