5…4…3…2…1…Dream Big!

We are just FIVE DAYS AWAY from our biggest event of the year: the Dream Big Book Drive and Community Celebration on MLK Day! Here’s everything you need to know to be ready for the big day:

Doors open at 1:00! Admission is free, but we’ll ask everyone to check in at the front door. Book donations will be accepted at the curb, and the first 500 children to check in will receive a free string backpack! Tisha Powell from ABC11, our official media partner, will help kick off the celebration.

Kids, get ready to dance at 2:00! Our friends from the YMCA will lead a kids’ Zumba class right in front of the stage, so wear your sneakers and your dancing clothes, and be ready to sweat!

The Bouncing Bulldogs are bringing the party at 3:00! If you’ve never seen this international award winning jump rope team perform, you definitely don’t want to miss this. If you’re in the front row, kids, you might even get a chance to jump in on the fun!

We’ll be having fun all afternoon! From 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., you can meet Clifford the Big Red Dog and Chase from Paw Patrol, get a poem written just for you by the Poetry Fox, get your face painted by Fun Faces by Sherry, eat popcorn from the Mad Popper, visit our cool digital photo booth, make crafts with the Scrap Exchange, learn more about our local community partner organizations and our sponsors, and of course, take home free books!

Now is a great time to round up books to donate! Bring your new or gently used children’s books on Monday to help us make sure all kids are growing up in homes filled with books. It’s not too late to run a book drive and invite your neighbors, friends, and coworkers to donate their books, too! Everything you need is in our online toolkit. Check out all the book drives already in progress — when you register your drive, we’ll add you to the list!

Don’t forget about our new INDOOR LOCATION! Dream Big is moving indoors to Rhythms Live Music Hall this year! You’ll find us in the Lakewood Shopping Center, 2020 Chapel Hill Rd. in Durham, right next to the Scrap Exchange.

We are so grateful to all 69 of our amazing sponsors who are helping make Dream Big 2020 possible. Check out the whole list here! Special thanks to our top sponsors: Hendrick Subaru Southpoint, Duke University Libraries, Scholastic, Wells Fargo, Mebane Foundation, Written Word Media, and United Way of the Greater Triangle.