The First Ever Book Fest at the PV Library #20

Prescott Valley Public Library Director, Casey VanHaren and Library Outreach Coordinator, Deborah Pfingston give all the info about the library's first every Book Fest. With over 40 authors, multiple vendors, food trucks and more, they have a lot to share in this information-packed episode.
For more information about the Book Fest, schedules and a list of vendors and sponsors, please visit our website at:                   
PrescottValley-AZ.gov/book_fest


You can also catch this episode as a videocast on our YouTube Channel here:

https://youtu.be/GuX7fTQ7l3k

Transcript

Hi, I am Casey Van Haren and I'm the Library Director here for the Town of Prescott Valley and I would like to welcome you to PV In Focus. And today we are going to talk about uh the library doing its first ever inaugural book fest and I'm here with Deborah who is our outreach coordinator and she is in this she knows what's going on. So let's talk about the book fest Deborah. So Prescott Valley Public Library is excited about having a book fest. We know that everybody up here in Northern Arizona loves books, loves authors, loves creative writing and it's for the whole family from littles to bigs. And so I'm so excited to share and I know you're excited to share. Oh my gosh, we have so much to go over. So first off, tell us about the the PV Book fest and what is it and why did the library to start to start doing this event? Well, it will be May 2nd, Saturday, May 2nd from 10:00 to 5:00 and it will be the whole Civic Circle area. Um, we will have vendors outside along with authors that will be selling their items, their books. Um, we'll have workshops and panels and uh story times and all of that in the Parks and Rec. building, but of course in the library, the best building in the Town. Um, on all three floors we'll have activities. Um, and we will have famous authors. I'll let you do the big break. We'll have famous authors and like I said, we'll have panels. Um, all authors. We're going to have book signings. It is just going to be and then food trucks. And then food trucks. We can't we can't forget we feed you, too. We get hungry. We need to eat. You will be paying for your food, but we will provide the food trucks. Um, so we're just so excited and the whole library, all the whole library staff will be there. Um, it's just going to be a blast. What makes Prescott Valley a great place to host this event? Because we have the the great library. We have the best location. Um, and also we really don't have anything like this. And we are um, one of our sponsors, which I know we'll talk about in a little bit, Peregrine Bookstore. They are also right here. So we've got Peregrine, we've got the library, we've got great librarians that have found fantastic authors, and then of course, who doesn't love Prescott Valley? Absolutely. And what's so great about the Prescott Valley campus is we have amazing parking. Uh so you can park anywhere. Um we have large grass areas, shade, outdoor stage, an outdoor stage, which we're going to have some of the authors on, some of our larger uh more popular authors. Um so it's just a great venue to host any events. And we do have our four signature events here in the event center area in the civic center uh you know Winter Spectacular um uh fest Fall Festival Red White and Boom and our our Spring Fest which is coming. But bookfest bookfest is what's going to set this off. Other communities have eggs and other communities have fireworks and other communities have stuff. This community is having a book fest. Yes and we really really want to grow this festival to be huge. We're starting small, but we really want to grow this. We want this to be Northern Arizona Book Festival where everyone comes from all over the state. Even though you say small, we have over 40 authors coming. Yes. Yes. 40. Speaking of, what kinds of things can people expect if they attend? Um, like we've already said, they will we have food trucks um out and the reason why I'm going like this is because it's out in the parking lot. Um then on our grass side we have vendors. Um so we'll have upper level and lower level vendors. Um we have stuff going on on the stage, story time for families going on on the stage in the auditorium in the library. That's where we have our our pretty big authors. Um we will have workshops. We have panels. We have a fantasy panel. We have a horror panel. But do you want to finally break it to the people? Yes. Our big person who's coming. Who's coming? We are so excited to announce that Anne Hillerman uh will be here. Um she's a a famous author. Uh she took over the series uh from her father Tony Hillerman. She continues the famous Leaphorn and Manulito mystery series that was originally created by her father Tony Hillerman. And her books are deeply rooted of course in the culture and the landscapes of the Southwest. So we're super excited to have her here as part of our community. Right. And when you brought up Southwest, that immediately made my mind jump to one of our panels that we expect is going to be packed. And it's a panel that you had already seen. Yes. Yes. So, one of one of the panels that I really want to talk about is the Navajo women's panel. Um uh they will be uh it's a group of women who talk about voices of Navajo Mothers and Daughters. And I was very fortunate to see this panel a couple years ago at the Arizona um Library Association conference and uh I think it was a a panel of five or six women and they told their story and it was so incredible. It was so powerful and inspirational. I think there was not a dry eye in the whole of 300 women and men in that room. Um it was very touching uh very a lot of sad stories but also some very inspirational um stories that they told and uh this this I'm really looking forward to seeing also this really touched me. So, so and that's just two items. Anne Hillerman, let's repeat that again. Ann Hillerman and then the um Navajo author panel. Um then for the building fantasy world panel, we have Melissa Marr we have Sarah Ella um and four great authors on that. Then chemistry on the pages, a romance panel, um Amy, uh Trueblood, we have Jess Hill, um Hillman, um and plus more. And then the horror panel, um which will be scary. Um so we've got that. Then then we don't want to ignore the young people. We have a teen VIP party. Yes, we do. That will be in the Crystal Room, the third floor. And that is just for young adults and they will be meeting with young adult authors, talking to them about writing. The authors are there to want to talk to them and encourage them and answer their questions. And then another sponsor, uh, Sprouts and Chick-fil-A are going to be feeding them. We're so excited. We are thankful for our sponsors. Yes, our sponsors are fantastic. So, since we've already mentioned um Chick-fil-A, we have mentioned Sprouts who've been fantastic always. Um we have Raber and Mortonson's Pediatric Dentistry. Oh, nice. You know what? Thank you for sponsoring of the book fest and um story time and things like that. And then our third sponsor is Peregrine Bookstore. Company. Book Company, Book Company. You are correct. And so they how fantastic. Yes. And they will have books here uh all of the author books here uh for purchase uh so that you can you know go up and have your book signed by the author. Yes. So bring money. Yeah. Bring money for purchasing of books. Um I yeah I think that'll be awesome. And you know what's really neat is some of the vendors we have a vendor coming and she makes she crochets little animals but little animals from books from children's books. So she has the children's book and then the little animal Oh, which is, you know, it made me think of the Velvetine Rabbit. Yes. Um, but isn't that great? It is going to be rocking. Yes. I know at first when we were talking about it, I was a little overwhelmed, but as things are opening and rolling, I am so excited for May 2nd. We have a lot of great plans. I think it's been very well put together. Why do you think events like this are important for our community? Well, number one, it brings people out of their house to be with the community. I love seeing littles up to olds. Um that that's one of the wonderful things about the library itself, how we bring multi-generations into the community. So we love that. But also we have such a talented, intelligent um community that loves books, that loves um skill. You know, we have a great creative writing group here. We do. We really do. Um, so it really brings the authors in. They love to see the different authors, the different genres. You know, I gag at romance, but I absolutely love non-fiction, right? But some people absolutely love that. And we have, you know, just some of the books from our authors that'll be here behind us, which is wonderful. Um, so it's just wonderful that the town of Prescott Valley is letting us do this. the staff of Prescott Valley um library public library are doing this and that first of all you approved it and you okay it so I think that's wonderful but a lot of hard work has been put into this uh event and and I think we started uh planning this a year ago so it's not something that we just put we don't put these events together just like that it's it's a very uh long process um we go through to make sure that we put together a very successful and meaningful event for our community. And it is a full day. I'm going to just reference the schedule, right? So, obviously from 10:00 to 5:00, we have the vendors going on the whole time. The food trucks will be here the whole time. Out on the stage, we have story time with one, two, uh, three authors. We have princess story time where they go, characters are going to be reading. Um, so let me ask you this. So, can, uh, little kids come dressed up as little princesses? Absolutely. Then in our library auditorium, we have the chemistry romance panel, the voices of Navajo Mothers and Daughters. Again, that's going to be a big one. Yes. Building fantasy worlds and then we'll end in the auditorium with Annne Hillerman. And she will then stay after and sign the books for you. Very exciting. Um we will have a graphic novel workshop with DC uh DC Comic Styles with Melissa Marr. Um, we'll have teen and tween writing workshops, storytelling Disney style. Oh my gosh, so many amazing workshops. How much does this event cost? Uh, free. Free. All of this is free. I cannot stress this enough. Of course, except for vendors and food, but um yeah, and the books. If you have to purchase a book, if you have to purchase a book, then we have the teen VIP party. Yes. And and and talk a little bit more about that. The teen VIP party. Um, it is where it'll be only for teens, so adults step out. It will be a time for them to talk with young adult authors. It'll be a time for them to ask questions. It'll be a time for them to just um have their favorite author sign a book. That's going to be incredible. It is just an experience just for them. And I love that. I do too. I think that the one thing that the library does best here is we really um focus on our teens because there's not a lot for our teens to do here. So having that ability um we have a great space here at the library, probably one of the best teen areas in uh Northern Arizona for a library. Um so I I really think that we focus on our teens. I agree. For the teen VIP party, the ages will be 12 to 18. And if you are interested in knowing the schedule, it is on our web page. Yes. Just go to the libraries web page, look up the book fest, and it's right there. So, and it will show all of the authors, all the the schedule. Yep. And uh like our socials because on Facebook and Instagram, we have been sharing um who what authors are coming, what books they've done, um panels, all of that. So, it's going to be on that. So, tell us about some of the vendors that'll be there. Well, we have, of course, um the woman I told you that crochets the animals to the books. We have the 3D printing dragon people. Um we have book sellers, rare book sellers. We have publishers that are coming, authors outside of the main authors. Um we have a ton of authors coming. That's going to be um over what close to 30 vendors out there, half authors, most local. And so there's a lot of western genre. Um a lot of uh writers that write all ages. So they will have their books there. And don't forget food trucks. Food trucks. Yes. We're going to have I think three or four food trucks. Bahama Bucks is coming. We have a couple Mexican food trucks, which you know, you can't, Oh, I love me a good taco. Um, we have a sweeties table selling sweets and our uh cafe vendor Carlito's will also be open Saturday. Oh, we love Carlitos. So, so come into the library cuz they're here Monday through Friday 9 to 3. 9 to 3. And we got to wrap it up, Deborah. We're coming to the end here. I'm trying to think about Yeah. Let's, you know, great. We're very grateful to our sponsors, uh, Chick-fil-A, Ace Hardware, Sprouts, Raber Mortonson Pediatric Dentistry, uh, Peregrine Book Company. We're very excited that they're going to be here helping us. Um, uh, they're they're that without them, we probably wouldn't be able to do this event. So, we're very, very fortunate to have them on board with us. Local public library, Prescott Valley Public Library, local bookstore, coming here together for you. Yes. We're very excited about this event and we hope that you'll join us. Yes. Yeah. I think that's it. Thanks, Casey. Thank you, Deborah. Have a fabulous day. You, too. All right.