What a wonderful Fourth of July/Independence Day holiday!
We began our celebration on July 3, when BryonySeries returned to the Billie Limacher Bicentennial Park Theatre with books, a couple free games with prizes, BryonySeries Word Music for $1, and an extra special free gift with select purchases.
I worked yesterday (July 4) and that was Rebekah's last day of vacation, so we have not crunched the final numbers.
But we gave away approximately thirty free books, sold about a dozen more, which came with a free. tie dyed shirt that Rebekah and Jasmine made from shirts Daniel bought as a surprise "BryonySeries book marketing" Christmas gift.
In fact, we actually ran out of small T-shirts.
We were able to give away some free books due to a few random donations we received at two previous events.
So Monday night at Bicentennial Park, people could spin our carnival wheel at no charge and receive the title that matched their spun number.
Depending on the age of the child, they left with either a Bertrand the Mouse Book or a book in The Adventures of Cornell Dyer subseries).
In fact, we have a great photo (not included on this post) of a mother taking a picture of her very happy little girl holding Bertrand the Mouse. The little girl was already thrilled to take a "Bertrand" book home with her...and then she noticed Bertrand sitting on the table. So naturally, she had to hold him and take a photo.
Three of us (Jasmine, Rebekah, and I) hustled all night. We were busy by the time we set up. Traffic didn't wind down until shortly before the fireworks began at 9:30 a.m.
Rebekah handled sales; Jasmine handled the book giveaways; I handled the free Bozo buckets (with dollar store red, white, and blue prizes).
Timothy and Daniel carried all the heavy stuff from the vehicles to the site, set up the tent, took it all down, and carried all the heavy stuff back to the vehicles at the end of the night. They also ran for (and paid for) coffee, tea, and dinner.
These are really outstanding adults of really fine character.
We chatted with long-time friends and made a few new ones.
But the most memorable part of Monday night was the smiles. People could not believe the games with prizes were free to play, that the shirts were free (with purchase), that the Word Music was only a dollar.
For people who feel kids don't want to read, they were sure excited to take books home. Now, maybe they won't actually read them.
Still, we saw a lot of wonder in eyes, a lot of awed smiles, a lot of really happy people walking away to listen to music or buy some ice cream...holding a book in their hands.
Wow!
Here are a handful of photos from the event, all taken by Jasmine except the one of her talking to customers.
At the end is a photo of me Timothy snaped while we were watching the fireworks off Cass Street Bridge. I love fireworks, and Cass Street bridge is my favorite place to enjoy them,
And by the way, the Bicentennial Park's firework show was truly outstanding, the best one ever, from the very first blast.
Needless to say, little Bertrand the Mouse and his Uncle Barty had a terrific time, even though they, too, worked most of the night.
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