book fest

A mere four months into my new manager-ship, my boss says to me “I think you would be the perfect person to take on the annual literary festival” – by which, of course, she meant that “no one else wants to go through that hell again and, being lowest on the totem pole, you’re it, kiddo” … yikes.  There is no doubt in my head that the first emotion I felt upon that pronouncement was, well, fear.  I didn’t even know how to do anything in my own department yet, forget taking on a huge system-wide event.  An event that would soon be linked with the national Culture Days movement.  An event that, despite the best of intentions always seems to be a lot of work for very little recognition.  Double yikes.  But what does one say to one’s boss in this situation?  The only thing there is to say: “sure!”

Fast forward three months and we’ve got a newly christened event (the more casual and family-friendly “Book Fest” replaces the rather snobby “Literary Festival”) in a new venue (home turf!) with a new way of doing things.  As usual, my motto of “go big or go home” is the driving force behind all my planning.  The building we’re hosting the event in is turning 20 years old this year, so I went with a birthday theme.  Here’s some of what went down:

• Three different tours are offered as part of our Doors Open commitment.
• Fifteen local authors set up tables and mingled with each other and the public
• Twenty exhibitors, from Anime Clubs to publishers, lined the atrium
• A huge Book Sale doubled as a fundraiser for the library
• Storytimes were held every half-hour
• 20 book trucks were decorated and paraded around the brand new Celebration Square
• An edible display of a 135-pound birthday cake and 499 cupcakes was wheeled out and thousand-plus people sing Happy Birthday to the Library.
• The mayor says some very kind words and cuts the cake
• Jeremy Tankard wraps it all up with a great talk to 150+ kids.

I was so exhausted after it all, I actually went to bed at 1800, woke up around 2030 for some soup and went back to bed.  I spent most of Sunday napping, reading and doing homework.

I took Monday off but I can’t help check my work emails – thankfully they’re full of congratulations.  My only worry now is that I’ll be asked to do it all over again next year.  At first, all I can think is "no thank you!"; now that it's a few days past, however, I'm thinking "why not?"