For those who have wondered what it would be like to go to a grown up version of the Scholastic book fair, the Decatur Book Festival offers an answer. The festival is the perfect chance to scour shelves and tents of books with more to spend than the $20 mom provided in elementary school.

Every year, the Decatur Book Festival, sponsored by The Atlanta Journal Constitution, spans from Friday to Sunday of Labor Day weekend. Located just 20 miles from Tech’s campus in the middle of Decatur Square, the festival is just a short MARTA ride away for students looking for something free and fun to do.

Sometimes overshadowed by the grandeur of Dragon Con, which occurs on the same weekend in various locations around intown Atlanta, the Decatur Book Festival has something for everyone. The festival features local authors from all around the state, independent bookseller stands, an array of food trucks and most importantly, King of Pops and Steele City Pops stands on seemingly every corner.

This year, the festival welcomed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to speak about and offer signings of her children’s book “Just Ask!: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You.” Free tickets for the event sold out within ten minutes of the announcement being made in August.

Those that weren’t able to snag Sonia Sotomayor tickets in time still had the opportunity to get their women-in-leadership fix on Saturday with a special session from Stacey Abrams. Abrams sat down to talk about her New York Times bestselling book “Lead from the Outside: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change.”

New to the festival this year was the child-oriented Graphix Con. The Graphix Con served as a miniature comic book and graphic novel convention where children could to work at different booths to illustrate and write their own comics.

For those not interested in reading, Decatur Square itself is home to a whole lineup of small shops and boutiques for browsing. All this is not to mention all of the good restaurants around the square, including but not limited to thai, sushi and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.

The accessibility of the festival by MARTA and its abundance of affordable parking space located in the Dekalb County Courthouse parking deck make the festival seem easier to get to in comparison with most Atlanta based festivals. Although the festival is on the smaller side it is jam packed with fun events and good food that make it perfect for a Labor Day weekend day trip away from campus.