Walkerston Library . Mackay Regional Council . Walkerston Rotary . Literacy Project

Every year, on the second last Friday of August, the Walkerston  community (just west of Mackay) celebrates Australian Children’s Book Week, by way of its hugely popular Book Week Parade.

This is organised by Walkerston Library, with significant support from Walkerston Rotary, by donations of book prizes, as well as volunteers assisting with the parade.

This is a spectacular uniquely ’Scrubby’ event in which the whole community takes part. 

For just a short magical moment in time, the local streets are filled with - literally hundreds of story-book characters;  from the classic fairy tale favourites, such as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and Little Red Riding Hood, to the other favourites of Mary Poppins, Storm Boy and Harry Potter. 

Also part of the magic, are  other characters from  the more recent children's book titles of Captain Underpants, The Paper Bag Princess, Where's Wally  and Thelma the Unicorn.

All of these wonderful, weird, funny, happy, sad…but mostly quite jolly - storybook characters, join together and parade down the main street of Walkerston, while others -  joined by parents, siblings, grand-parents, aunts and uncles... and more; are lined up along the route watching and applauding, as the spectacular parade of storybook costumes passes by. 😄

A magical happy community event, full of fun and laughter – promoting literacy from an early age : Just Read!