When the Murphysboro Apple Festival agreed to take 150 copies of Tell Me About Your Apple Festival for Festival week, I was incredibly grateful.

And I prayed we could sell them.

One hundred fifty books felt like a lot of books.

And yet, when it came time to place the order, my husband and I decided to take a bigger bet on me.

We ordered 500.

The Festival would have its 150, and I figured I would sell the rest myself over time through my website.

Maybe a very long time.

I was fully prepared to spend the next several years signing books, packing orders and slowly working my way through the boxes in our basement.

Then Tuesday happened.

We brought one box of books to Festival Eve Storytime at Sallie Logan Public Library.

We sold through the entire box 15 minutes before Storytime even started.

Paula sent her husband out to grab another box and a half. We sold those, too.

And then 122 people came to Storytime.

One hundred twenty-two people.

Festival Eve PJ Story Time

Photo by Nichole Smelter, Whimsey Photography

For the very first public reading of this little book.

Paula and I were floored. Utterly overwhelmed by the turnout and the support.

Eventually, we had to tell a few people who were still hoping to purchase a book that they’d need to wait and get their copies at the Festival the next day.

The next night was the Festival Opening Ceremony.

We sold through all 150 copies the Festival had originally taken.

So I sent my dad out to his car for another box.

And we kept bringing them more.

By Saturday afternoon, the Festival had sold through every copy we had made available to them.

More than 300 books.

I had started the week praying we could sell 150.

And that original order of 500 that I thought might take me years to work through?

Between preorders, Festival week and everything that went into launching this book, there are only a handful left that I’ve held back.

Five hundred books suddenly doesn’t feel like very many books at all.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around that.

But mostly, I am just so, so grateful.

Grateful to everyone who bought one.

Signing copies of Tell Me About Your Apple Festival after the Opening Ceremony
Photo by Nichole Smelter, Whimsey Photography

Grateful to the 122 people who showed up for that very first Storytime.

Grateful to the people who came looking for a book and to the people who bought copies for their children and grandchildren, or because the Festival means something to their family, too.

And incredibly grateful to the community that inspired this story for embracing it the way you did.

There is also a slightly less sentimental part of me that is very relieved I will not be spending the next several years signing, packing and shipping my way through 500 books from our basement. 😂

And today, Tell Me About Your Apple Festival is officially published.

That feels a little funny to write because, after this week, it already feels very much out in the world.

But I can’t imagine a better way for this book to begin.

This story was inspired by four generations of my family loving the Murphysboro Apple Festival. I wrote it because I wanted to capture something I have come to understand more deeply as I’ve gotten older: our traditions matter.

They connect us to our families, to our communities and to something larger than ourselves.

And this week, the community that inspired that story gave it an extraordinary beginning.

Now it gets to go a little farther.

Beginning today, Tell Me About Your Apple Festival is available through online retailers and can be purchased through independent bookstores. I hope it finds its way to families who have never been to Murphysboro. To children who have their own festivals, celebrations and traditions. And maybe to a few families who will close the book and start telling their own stories about the things they return to year after year.

And if you were one of the people who took a copy home during Festival week and you’ve already read and enjoyed it, there is one more way you can help us send it out into the world.

An honest rating or review can help someone who doesn’t know me, Murphysboro or the Apple Festival decide to give this little story a chance.

LEAVE A REVIEW

Murphysboro, I prayed we could make it through 150.

You took us through more than 300.

I don’t think I could have dreamed up a better way to send this little book into the world.

Thank you. ❤️🍎

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