We couldn't have done it without you

I can't say enough about how well everything went this past weekend at the first annual Chestertown Book Festival. I guess we were all planning for the worst-case-scenario, but it felt as though everything just fell into place. Here are a few fun numbers to provide proof of this declaration:

After totaling the number of people in attendance at each of our 38 events, we had a turnout of just under 1,000 (non-unique visitors, of course--that's web-speak for repeat attendees).

And when I emptied out the two donation boxes that we had carried around with us on Friday evening and all day Saturday, I tell you, it was like Christmas morning. All together, people donated $420 for the funding of next year's Festival!

If you'd like more visual gratification, there are pictures from the Festival on The Chestertown Spy and on volunteer photographer Nick Smerker's Flickr page.

Our participants were fabulous, our volunteers were wonderful, our venue hosts were fantastic, and our visitors were, well, the perfect audience. Thank you to everyone who helped us to make this possible! You did such a great job that I think we now have no choice but give a repeat performance next year and the year after and as long as we can, I think.

P.S. we're not done yet

Here are two more events that didn't make it to the official Schedule of Events (only because they were added after our ideal cut-off date). Take a look:

Local author Terwana Brown will give a reading and signing for her upcoming book Living My Life in Reverse.

Saturday, November 14th
Bookplate, 112 S. Cross St.
10:00-11:00 a.m.

Poet Robert Earl Price will give a poetry reading and book signing. He is the author of poetry collections Blues Blood and Wise Blood.

Saturday, November 14th
Christ United Methodist Church, 401 High St.
2:00-3:00 p.m.

The best umbrellas are non-profit ones

It's official! The Chestertown Book Festival is now a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, thanks to the Mid-Shore Community Foundation. Instead of us having to spend the ridiculous amount of money and time and head-pain required to file the paperwork to become a 501(c)(3), Mid-Shore pulls us under the large umbrella of their established 501(c)(3) status and they also help us manage and grow our funds. This is a huge relief for everyone here on the ChesBookFest committee. Thank you Mid-Shore!

And now we are only a week away from the festival. The countdown has begun!