Author and publisher Brian Hershey of Portland shares a table Sunday with a werewolf as Hershey sells his horror books during The Maine Book Fest in the lobby of Waterville Creates in downtown Waterville. Hershey says the werewolf plays the character Dr. Mya Bishop in one of his books, “Forgotten Sin.” Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

WATERVILLE — You could get just about anything Sunday at the The Maine Book Fest in downtown Waterville, including fiction, nonfiction, mystery, horror, classic literature and works by local authors.

You could even buy books that are banned or challenged in some parts of the country, including “Huckleberry Finn,” “Lord of the Flies,” “The Odyssey,” “The Great Gatsby” and “Wuthering Heights.”

“People always buy some of the banned books,” Nancy Smith, who was tending The Banned Bookstore booth, said. “A lot of people buy them because they read them in school.”

Smith was at Head of Falls on Sunday afternoon, where many tents were set with vendors offering books, crafts, food, T-shirts and art kits.

Maddie Smith, organizer of The Maine Book Fest, at Sunday’s event at Head of Falls in downtown Waterville. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel

Printmaker James Sylvester of Portland demonstrates stamp printing Sunday during The Maine Book Fest at Head of Falls Park in downtown Waterville. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Her daughter, Maddie Smith of Waterville, owns The Banned Bookstore, an online business, and is the book festival’s founding organizer. Last year, the first festival was in Hallowell.

Maddie Smith said about 60 vendors and 10,000 attendees from Maine and beyond were expected over the two-day event, which began Saturday and also had venues at the Green Block + Studio and Waterville Creates on Main Street. Authors, printmakers, musicians and others hosted talks and workshops there.

The festival’s purpose is to encourage reading, literacy and education in Maine communities.

“It’s a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be, and we’re rolling with the punches,” Maddie Smith, 23, said.

She said that in addition to conducting her business online, she also has booths at pop-up Books & Brews events around the state.

A graduate of the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences in Fairfield, Maddie Smith holds degrees in business administration and business management from Thomas College in Waterville.

Jody Rich, 68, of Waterville, the author of the book “Simmering, Savory and Deadly,” published by Maine Authors Publishing, stopped by to chat with Maddie Smith under a tent at Head of Falls.

“I didn’t know about this,” Rich said. “I learned about it from Ellen Richmond at the Children’s Book Cellar — I love it. It’s much richer than I thought it was going to be. Clearly, you’ve got an audience in a community that I want to be part of.”

Rich and Smith exchanged contact information after Rich said she wanted to bring copies of her book to next year’s festival.

Alyssa Patterson arranges items Sunday at her booth at The Maine Book Fest at Head of Falls in downtown Waterville. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel

It was warm and sunny Sunday at the riverfront, where Alyssa Patterson was selling items under a tent related to journaling and bookbinding. She also was selling kits for creating mini scrapbooks, and offering dresses with book-themed prints that she had sewed.

Creative journaling, she said, allows one to create without having the pressure of knowing someone will see it, necessarily.

“It’s basically like writing in a journal, but you’re more creating in it, and it can be just about anything,” Patterson said. “You can paint, you can draw, you can doodle, test out new pens.”

Aurelia Snow, left, and Taylor Lange of Old Town talk Sunday as they flip through books while shopping at the Stone Broke Bread & Books stand during The Maine Book Fest at Head of Falls in downtown Waterville. Snow and Lange say they enjoy reading poetry. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Patterson began the journaling activity several years ago, after a friend gave her a journal.

“The cool thing about it is art, and creations that you can have for yourself,” she said. “You don’t have to share it with anybody. It’s just something you can do for yourself.”

Patterson, the library director at the Lawrence Public Library in Fairfield, also had a table set up for children to create bookmarks with colored paper, stickers, tape, pens and markers. And she offered free snacks, including brownies, sugar cookies and spicy pretzels.