Where’s Waldo? In Oxford, of course.

The famous children’s book character in the striped shirt and black-rimmed specs is visiting 25 local businesses throughout the community this July.

Organizers say Find Waldo Local is a great summer vacation activity and a wonderful way to support local businesses and the Shop Local movement in our community, including these partners: Holli’s Sweet Tooth, Something Southern, Amy Head Cosmetics and many others.

Anyone who wishes to participate can pick up a “Find Waldo Local in Oxford!” passport, which contains the names of all the participating sites, and get their passport stamped or signed for each Waldo they spot. Collecting store stamps or signatures at 20 or more businesses will entitle diligent seekers entry into a grand-prize drawing on Saturday, July 30, with the top prize being a six-volume deluxe set of Waldo books.

This year, participants can also #ColorWaldoAndWin: when they share a completed coloring sheet of Waldo on Instagram, they’ll be entered into a drawing to be one of five lucky winners of a deluxe prize pack.

Waldo is the creation of Martin Handford, whose entertaining drawings of crowd scenes swept the world in the late 1980s. Since then, the Where’s Waldo? books have held a cherished spot on bookstore shelves the world over. There are now over 65 million Waldo books in print worldwide, and they’ve been translated into over thirty languages. An entire generation has grown up searching for Waldo and his cast of wandering companions.

In celebration of Waldo’s longevity and popularity, his American publisher, Candlewick Press, is once again teaming up with the American Booksellers Association and 250 independent bookstores across the country for some hide-and-seek fun to encourage communities to patronize their local businesses.

There is no charge to participate, and the hunt lasts for the entire month of July. For more information about hunting for Waldo in Oxford, call Alissa at Square Books at 662-236-2262.