15 thoughts on “Decatur Book Festival Open Thread”
Good festival day! Beautiful weather. Cooking stage in a great place. Enjoyed every talk i went to, and all audiences seemed appreciative.
Well this is a bummer: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/weird-news/real-life-mystery-at-ajc-decatur-book-festival/nsRF3/
TV news reported that the van was not stolen, but towed. From where they did not say.
I enjoyed myself Saturday at the bookfest. Not only did I browse books, but also the local businesses. We really have a nice downtown. I had a chance to stop in the new store, Rocket Fizz. Nice assortment of soft-drinks and candy. Sadly, the Hillary for Prison poster they have in the store is a non-starter for this family. Politics aside, it seems like bad business to declare your flag like that and risk alienating a portion of your customer base. Jeez, it is a candy store – does everything have to be politicized?
Bank of America parking lot was full of booted cars Saturday afternoon
The irony of people attending a book festival yet being unable to read.
Someone told me that the vehicles parked toward the front of the lot did not have boots, like maybe they ran out.
So instead of making a few hundred bucks by charging for parking, B of A decided to make a bunch of people hate Decatur. Nice.
Another great festival in the books! Seemed like bigger crowds than ever at the events I attended. The Ryan Gravel (Beltline Guy) event might have had the largest crowd I’ve ever seen at the festival. Unfortunately, the Q&A session got a bit out of hand. First, there was the contentious question regarding the TAD and APS, which, while a valid question, was perhaps inappropriate for the occasion. From there it got worse, as some senior citizens from East Point inexplicably dominated the rest of the Q&A. One lady decided to use the time to give what amounted to an anti-density, anti-tiny house speech couched in a complaint about a lack of green space in East Point, with a token question at the end (the question was essentially “how do we get developers to stop building things I don’t like”). Ryan handled it well, I thought, but when she wasn’t satisfied with his answer and tried to make another comment, she was roundly jeered by the crowd who drowned out whatever she was saying. The whole thing was a bit bizzare–more like a public comment portion of a city council meeting than a book festival Q&A.
Agreed on the Gravel presentation. Great stuff. But one thing I found interesting is that he’s a less dynamic speaker than I was expecting. Kind of a reserved and steady type, which I suppose further reinforces just how good of an idea the Beltline was/is. It didn’t require a polished, charismatic sales job to convince people. It totally sold itself on its own merits.
I’ve met him before and heard him deliver similar talks, and he’s gotten somewhat more comfortable speaking in public. His wry sense of humor comes out a bit more now. But, yes, he’s an urban planner, not a salesman. Nor is he an expert on finance and real estate development, which some of the people who ask questions at events seem not to realize.
Gravel’s idea was/is phenomenal, but Atlanta City Council President Cathy Woolard was the big initial salesperson for the Beltline and really turned the plan from thesis to city project.
The Disease Detective session actually got so full that the doors were closed.
What I noticed this time is that the median age of attendees of the sessions was pretty old. My teen claimed to be the only young person at Melissa Fay Greene’s session on dogs. Not exactly true but darn close. Maybe it’s just the sessions I picked. And I don’t hang out at the Children’s Stage anymore where the young families go. But even the crowd in the streets seemed old compared to what you’d see at say the Decatur Art’s Festival, which is also free.
But had a great time myself. The Festival operations are so smooth now. I was glad that I went to every session I attended but the two I enjoyed the most were the Pulitzer Prize session with Klibanoff/Trethaway/Luckovich/Hastings where they read/showed pieces from earlier winners and Melissa Fay Greene’s The Underdogs. She’s as humorous a speaker as she is a talented writer–figures since she’s quite the Mom.
I did sort of notice an older demographic, but like you not sure if that was just due to the events I chose. The two fullest events I attended were the Ryan Gravel one and the “Love Wins” discussion (the Supreme Court gay marriage recognition case, featuring one of the plaintiffs from Ohio–very moving story), and they both seemed to have rather older audiences. In a professional capacity, I attended one of the YA book discussions, and it was sparsely attended though of course a younger audience. Another thing I’d mention is racial diversity, which was completely lacking for all but one of the events I was at (Teresa Ghilarducci’s discussion about retirement finances, which, surprisingly, didn’t seem to attract any older of an audience than the other discussions I attended).
Kudos to this year’s Book Festival organizers and to City of Decatur Police & Fire Dept. on another entertaining and well run festival.
Good festival day! Beautiful weather. Cooking stage in a great place. Enjoyed every talk i went to, and all audiences seemed appreciative.
Well this is a bummer: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/weird-news/real-life-mystery-at-ajc-decatur-book-festival/nsRF3/
TV news reported that the van was not stolen, but towed. From where they did not say.
I enjoyed myself Saturday at the bookfest. Not only did I browse books, but also the local businesses. We really have a nice downtown. I had a chance to stop in the new store, Rocket Fizz. Nice assortment of soft-drinks and candy. Sadly, the Hillary for Prison poster they have in the store is a non-starter for this family. Politics aside, it seems like bad business to declare your flag like that and risk alienating a portion of your customer base. Jeez, it is a candy store – does everything have to be politicized?
Bank of America parking lot was full of booted cars Saturday afternoon
The irony of people attending a book festival yet being unable to read.
Someone told me that the vehicles parked toward the front of the lot did not have boots, like maybe they ran out.
So instead of making a few hundred bucks by charging for parking, B of A decided to make a bunch of people hate Decatur. Nice.
Another great festival in the books! Seemed like bigger crowds than ever at the events I attended. The Ryan Gravel (Beltline Guy) event might have had the largest crowd I’ve ever seen at the festival. Unfortunately, the Q&A session got a bit out of hand. First, there was the contentious question regarding the TAD and APS, which, while a valid question, was perhaps inappropriate for the occasion. From there it got worse, as some senior citizens from East Point inexplicably dominated the rest of the Q&A. One lady decided to use the time to give what amounted to an anti-density, anti-tiny house speech couched in a complaint about a lack of green space in East Point, with a token question at the end (the question was essentially “how do we get developers to stop building things I don’t like”). Ryan handled it well, I thought, but when she wasn’t satisfied with his answer and tried to make another comment, she was roundly jeered by the crowd who drowned out whatever she was saying. The whole thing was a bit bizzare–more like a public comment portion of a city council meeting than a book festival Q&A.
Agreed on the Gravel presentation. Great stuff. But one thing I found interesting is that he’s a less dynamic speaker than I was expecting. Kind of a reserved and steady type, which I suppose further reinforces just how good of an idea the Beltline was/is. It didn’t require a polished, charismatic sales job to convince people. It totally sold itself on its own merits.
I’ve met him before and heard him deliver similar talks, and he’s gotten somewhat more comfortable speaking in public. His wry sense of humor comes out a bit more now. But, yes, he’s an urban planner, not a salesman. Nor is he an expert on finance and real estate development, which some of the people who ask questions at events seem not to realize.
Gravel’s idea was/is phenomenal, but Atlanta City Council President Cathy Woolard was the big initial salesperson for the Beltline and really turned the plan from thesis to city project.
The Disease Detective session actually got so full that the doors were closed.
What I noticed this time is that the median age of attendees of the sessions was pretty old. My teen claimed to be the only young person at Melissa Fay Greene’s session on dogs. Not exactly true but darn close. Maybe it’s just the sessions I picked. And I don’t hang out at the Children’s Stage anymore where the young families go. But even the crowd in the streets seemed old compared to what you’d see at say the Decatur Art’s Festival, which is also free.
But had a great time myself. The Festival operations are so smooth now. I was glad that I went to every session I attended but the two I enjoyed the most were the Pulitzer Prize session with Klibanoff/Trethaway/Luckovich/Hastings where they read/showed pieces from earlier winners and Melissa Fay Greene’s The Underdogs. She’s as humorous a speaker as she is a talented writer–figures since she’s quite the Mom.
I did sort of notice an older demographic, but like you not sure if that was just due to the events I chose. The two fullest events I attended were the Ryan Gravel one and the “Love Wins” discussion (the Supreme Court gay marriage recognition case, featuring one of the plaintiffs from Ohio–very moving story), and they both seemed to have rather older audiences. In a professional capacity, I attended one of the YA book discussions, and it was sparsely attended though of course a younger audience. Another thing I’d mention is racial diversity, which was completely lacking for all but one of the events I was at (Teresa Ghilarducci’s discussion about retirement finances, which, surprisingly, didn’t seem to attract any older of an audience than the other discussions I attended).
Kudos to this year’s Book Festival organizers and to City of Decatur Police & Fire Dept. on another entertaining and well run festival.
Thanks for making our city shine!