Lane County BookFest gives elementary students free books to keep
More than 1,500 Lane County elementary students picked five free books each at BookFest, taking home over 7,500 books for summer reading.
More than 1,500 Lane County elementary students left BookFest with something to carry into summer: five free books each, hand-selected by the children themselves. United Way of Lane County said the program reached 14 schools in eight districts from May 26 to June 5 and distributed more than 7,500 books, turning the end of the school year into a countywide literacy push.
The point of the effort is simple but urgent. United Way says 60% of Lane County third graders are not reading proficiently, and the organization sees third grade as the key pivot from learning to read to reading to learn. By putting books directly into K-2 students’ hands, BookFest is meant to help children keep reading through the summer, preserve the gains they made during the school year and strengthen the odds that they will read well by the time they reach third grade.
Alma Fumiko Hesus, president and CEO of United Way of Lane County, has tied the program to that long-term goal of literacy and academic success. BookFest is described by the organization as an annual community-wide program, and United Way says it is a partnership with Connected Lane County and the Early Childhood Hub of Lane County. More than 80 volunteers from across the county helped staff the effort this year, alongside local schools, community partners, businesses, sponsors and donors.
The footprint stretched across much of Lane County. Participating schools included Dorena and London elementaries in South Lane, Marcola Elementary, Guy Lee Elementary, Mt. Vernon Elementary and Walterville Elementary in Springfield, and Lundy Elementary, Applegate Elementary, Howard Elementary, River Road Elementary, McCornack Elementary and César Chávez Elementary in Eugene. The program also reached Mapleton and Oakridge.
BookFest has become a familiar part of the local literacy calendar. United Way says it began in 2018 in response to local reading-score gaps, and local coverage said the 2025 event was the eighth annual BookFest. A 2024 report said more than 2,400 K-2 students received brand-new books, underscoring how the countywide effort has become a steady summer intervention for young readers.
For families in Eugene, Springfield, South Lane and beyond, the appeal is immediate: children get to choose the books, take them home and start their own summer library. That small act of ownership is the core of the program, and it is what organizers say can keep reading momentum alive when school is out.
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