TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — Downtown Tarpon Springs transformed into a book lover's paradise Saturday as authors and fans traveled across the country for the city's book festival. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Tarpon Springs Book Festival brought hundreds to downtown

  • Local book store owner, Julia Bodwell, is worried tariffs may impact her business

  • Bodwell hopeful festival becomes an annual tradition

Julia Bodwell, the owner of The Gilded Page, said the festival was everything she could have imagined.

“People have come from all over,” she said. “I think I heard someone came in from Louisiana to meet the authors and be a part of this event.”

Bodwell loves seeing all the support, but in the back of her mind, she’s thinking about the future of selling books as they may get pricier because of tariffs.

“We’re definitely a little concerned with everything that’s going on with the tariffs,” she said. “It’s not something we’re going to feel immediately as there’s still so much uncertainty with what exactly will happen.”

Bodwell said books are exempt from tariffs but she is unsure if materials to produce books will be affected.

If they are, she said, increased printing costs could be passed down to small businesses and then the consumer.

“As a small business, we really don’t have any wiggle room for changing our prices, we kind of have to stick with the price the publisher set in print on the book,” Bodwell said.

This is the first year of the Tarpon Springs Book Festival, but Bodwell is hopeful this becomes a yearly tradition.