Here We Come, Edgerton!!

I'm very happy to say that a fellow author, Claudine Gueh Yanting is sponsoring a giveaway of my new picture book Kailee Finds Magic IN Words, on her blog. Check it out for a chance to win a free autographed copy http://www.carryusoffbooks.com/blog/finding-magic-in-words.

As some of you may know, myself, my sister and our mother are all meeting up in Edgerton, Ohio on July 25 & 26th. We are going to have several book signings there.

Edgerton, Ohio is where my siblings and I grew up. It's a small community and according to the 2010 census, there are a little over 2000 people living there. Edgerton has two stop lights and boy do I know them well! As a teenager I drove through those stop lights a million times just coasting around hoping to run into people I knew, which was almost impossible NOT to do. I have some very memorable stories about those events. Some of my friends will remember what we did when passing a certain, Mark Gineman, through town!! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE! What fun.

One of the things that makes Edgerton very special is the fact that we had a statute named Clem, right in the middle of town. At the time, we thought it was a pain to have to drive around but it really did make us unique. Later in life, Clem was relocated to the front of City Hall.

 

 

 

 

I can't imagine growing up in a better community than Edgerton. Our school was small, I think my graduating class had about 62 students, so our teachers were able to give us the special attention we needed to succeed. We weren't just a number, our teachers knew who we were and our backgrounds, which can sometimes be a good thing and other times...not so good. I didn't get good grades in school but was always reminded by some of my teachers that my two older sisters did! Sigh.

 

Here is a photo of our old high school which is no longer the school. It is still there but has been converted into office space for city employees since our City Hall was destroyed in a tornado a few years ago.

 





I still have such great memories of one of the houses we grew up in. I loved that house and have dreams periodically about visiting it again to see how it has changed. My husband and I drive by it every time we're in town. Here's a picture of how it looked when we lived in it. The bay window at top was the bedroom I shared with two other sisters! We only had one teeny tiny bathroom in that house to share amongst four females and two males! I don't know how we ever survived that.

 

 

Growing up in a small town did have it's challenges but we didn't really realize what big of challenges they were until we moved away!



But there are no better people in the world than the people of Edgerton or those that lived there but are now living elsewhere. At least that is how us Swope's feel.

And that is why we are making the long trips up there to have some special book signings! We are all so excited to come back home.

Here is where we'll be having our book signings and we hope that our friends, family, and acquaintances will stop by so we can say hi and give them a giant sized hug!

Friday, July 25 - 11:00 - 1:30pm - Edgerton Library. I'll be reading my book to the kiddo's probably right around 11:00. If any adults stick around and are interested, my sis and mom will speak a little bit about their writing experience.

Friday, July 25 - 5-7:30pm - Festival of Flags under the big tent, Miller park

Saturday, July 26 - 12-3:00pm - Susan's Hair Flair, downtown. We'll be there during and after the parade.

Hope to see some of you there!