Now that is an interesting word, “Flekkefest”. It is a celebration held each summer in the scenic little town of Elbow Lake, MN. This past weekend I erected my yellow and white striped canopy tent on the courthouse lawn with the intention of selling books.
The courthouse is a beautiful building, built in the late 1800’s and in later years added on t0 to make it handicap accessible while still retaining its original architecture. It sits on a hill at the north end of the town’s main street and it is quite an impressive site as one drives up to it.
The annual celebration is in honor of the town’s Scandinavian heritage and entails eating, drinking, game playing, live entertainment, class reunions and a lot of visiting. A giant parade provides the children an opportunity to collect enough candy to keep them all on sugar highs for weeks! 🙂
Strange looking ladies appear from time to time flitting among the crowds of people. Wearing shawls and flowing dresses, they speak not a word. Grotesque masks cover their lower faces as their eyes observe you hauntingly. Are they gnomes or some other Scandinavian creature? I’m not really certain. But since I am 50% Scandinavian myself I’ll assume they are some positive representative from the ‘old country’.
In an earlier blog I mentioned never have a booth next to the Tupperware lady. Well I have an addition to that list. During Flekkefest I had the most delightful grandmother in the booth next to me. No problem you say…….wrong! It seems this grandmother had written a children’s book for her grandchildren and now was going to offer it for sale to the general public. She had lived in the Elbow Lake area almost her whole life and to add to her name recognition the local paper had just done a story on her new book. Please, please bring me back the Tupperware lady!
As the hours went by and local folks flocked to her booth some with money already in their hands I began to feel a depressive episode coming on. I was reminded of my childhood days when every Saturday I took my ten cents allowance and went to the local drug store, headed to the comic book section and blew my whole allowance on a new comic book. Now you are wondering what does this have to do with the present situation? My booth began to feel like the comic book section in my hometown drug store while Grandma’s booth next door took on the appearance of a Barnes and Noble!
When the first day ended and the dust had settled the score stood at: Grandma – 46 books, Mike – 5 books! At least it wasn’t a shutout! 🙂 The next day did not get much better but by then I had had time to reflect on the whole situation. I thought back to my first book signing in Wheaton where I had lived and taught school for many years and, yes, had received publicity in the local paper. I, too, sold many books with ease and yes some customers even came with money already in their hands.
On the final day I sat back and in between my few book sales listened to Grandma’s excited chatter and recognized how she was feeling. She was a fellow author and deserved the excitement and successes she was experiencing.
I journeyed back to Wheaton that last day happy that I had met Grandma and her “cool” husband and was able to spend two days with them in the shadow of Grant County’s unique court house.
Until next time! 🙂
