I spent a windy morning yesterday helping to man the WLRN booth at the Miami Book Fair. It was a (mind) blowing experience. I arrived at the Fair site in downtown Miami, as per e-mailed instructions, at 9:30am, to meet a young staff member named Dee Diaz, and to quickly realize it was just the two of us wrestling with a zipped up tent stuffed with endless boxes of "stuff".
Our location, as the very first tent Fair-goers encountered, once they passed through the main entrance, was either the best, or the worst, that the Book Fair had to offer. The best, because we were the first thing they saw as they entered and the last thing they saw as they left. The worst, because nothing protected us on our north side from the unrelenting north wind.
The boxes of "stuff" turned out to be cd's and dvd's by the likes of Patti Page, Rosemary Clooney (George's aunt, remember her?) and Dinah Shore! Also lots of Celia Cruz, and for some ungodly reason, a dozen of Il Volo, that young Italian singing group. Don't laugh, we sold lots of them, at $5 a pop, with all monies going to the station. More expensive, at $25 each, were the original documentaries done by WLRN through NPR. These were fascinating and also sold well.
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| "Honk If You're Weird!" |
Then we had books. Boy did we have books. With titles I never hear of, but a lot of them sold at $5 each. We also had give-aways, including the "Honk If You're Weird" bumper sticker I'm holding in the photo. Not so surprisingly, young people passing by, scooped them up. Please note the green "money apron" I am wearing in the photo. We were a cash business, Dee and me. None of that credit card stuff for us.
It was not a pretty day, on and off drizzly, but the Book Fair is amazing. Once my shift was over I got to walk around and even grab an arepa (my addiction at outdoor events) for lunch. Couldn't resist buying a book at one of the tents dedicated to kid's books. Got one about dinosaurs for my great-grandson Grayson, who is a dinosaur aficionado. If you've never been to the Miami Book Fair, you don't know what you're missing. Put it on your calendar for next year!
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