April 9, 2010
Dear Friends,
What a difference a year makes. Several big snows. Torrential rains. And now 90 degrees! And we are still open, thanks to a ton of very good friends, neighbors, and customers. Not all of you may know, but last October, we were closer to the precipice of closing the shop than ever. We put out a call for help and support and the response was incredible. People emailed friends to come and shop. People came and bought gift certificates and mountains of books. We had special holiday events with big crowds. And we ended up having the best holiday season ever, thanks to you folks. And the icing on the cake was that ten bands that play in our summer concert series suggested we have a fundraiser, The Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia generously hosted it and on a January Sunday, in pouring rain, we had a hugely successful concert that raised enough money that the financial cost of running the concert series dropped from our shoulders. We’ve paid our outstanding bills and we’re back in the game. Thank you so much. We are deeply honored and touched by your support and will keep on keeping on.
     We are glad to say we now have a wonderful, fun, accessible website, walkacrookedmilebooks.com , thanks to the generous help of our new friend, Rachel Polisher of livealbum.org. There are many features, including a calendar that is already jammed full of free concerts, shows, and yard sales like those below.
    No big vacation for us this year. Instead, my only daughter Jesse is getting married on August 14th and we’re saving up for that wonderful event. We’ll be closed on August 13 and 14 for the wedding.  One more piece of personal news is that we may have to move out of Glen Fern, down on the banks of the Wissahickon, where we have been caretakers of this lovely old house and where I’ve spent many hours working on restoring the surrounding forest. If you know of any similar caretaking jobs or great housing opportunities that might fit us, please let us know.
         As usual, we have a full schedule of spring events – come to one, come to all!
    Sunday April 17 and 18 We’ll again be at the Philadelphia Book Festival at the Main Library on Saturday. Our friend Amy Ignatow, will be signing her smash new young adult book The Popularity Papers, 1-2:30 both days, in our booth. Details at freelibrary.org/bookfestival/
    MONDAY APRIL 19 – SATURDAY MAY 22 ALL BOOKS IN THE SHOP ARE 30% OFF. As always, we need to clean out our stock and you’ll find bargains galore.
    Saturday April 24 and Saturday May 8 are our spring Yard Sales. Fun, fun, fun!
    Saturday May 1, we will be exhibiting at Mt. Airy Day, at Cliveden on Germantown Ave. 
    Sunday May 2, we’ll be at The Chestnut Hill Home and Garden Show, for more info go to chestnuthillpa.com/events/home-garden-festival/  
     Friday & Saturday, May 21st and 22nd There is now a book show in Philly, The Philadelphia Book & Ephemera Fair. We’ll be there with some great books.
      We are restarting our fabulous free concert series with the goal of having great music, once a week, from now through October. Check the website or we’ll notify you by email, if you ask to be on our list.
              Fri. April 16, 7-9 p.m. Mt. Airy legend Tom Gala, with Ray Duffy
              Fri.  April 23, 7-9 p.m. five piece band - Saint Mad
                Fri.  May 7 7-9 p.m. Singer songwriter - Aaron Mitchell 
                Fri.  May 14, 7-9 p.m., Singer songwriter - Phil Bennett and friends
. Come to one of these myriad events and say hi.         We miss you.                              Greg and Cynthia