Janet Oakley’s Favorite Independent Bookstore - Village Books

Janet Oakley’s Favorite Independent Bookstore - Village Books

One of the secrets of being a good writer, is being a reader. My love for writing certainly came from my many trips to the Wilkinsburg Public Library in Pittsburgh, PA where I grew up. Once a week, my mom would take my brothers and I to this branch library of the original Carnegie Library to return and take out books. Here is where I learned about Narnia and little houses on a prairie; jumped through chalk paintings on a sidewalk with Marry Poppins. Books let my imagination soar. When we went camping every summer for two weeks in either Pennsylvania, New York, or New England, we always looked for bookstores in the little towns nearby. There only independent bookstores back then. Buying a book to read while we tent-camped and hiked, was a singular joy on a hot summer day. Ivanhoe, long a favorite story of mine, came from a shelf in an indie bookstore in Ithica, New York; Shogun and Lord of the Rings came from the shelves in bookstores in Honolulu and Hilo, Hawaii. I have always been a reader, but in second grade, I started to write my own stories.

When my husband and I moved from Hawaii to Bellingham, WA in 1977, the second thing on our minds after adjusting to the autumn cold, was to find a bookstore. Bellingham was a small city then and going through the economic slump like the rest of the nation.

Set on a beautiful bay with islands to the west and a 10,000-foot white-headed mountain to the east, one of our favorite places to explore in Bellingham was the rather funky part of town known as Fairhaven. We were elated about the rumors of a new bookstore opening in Fairhaven. That indie bookstore was Village Books.

A community-based, independent bookstore

Village Books opened on June 20, 1980. Fairhaven was not the bustling place it is now. It was, in fact, rundown, but it was the dream of Chuck and Dee Robinson to bring a community-based, independent bookstore to Bellingham. The bookstore was set in an old historic brick building. It was small with bookshelves packed full of books. And it had a cat. The Colophon, a sandwich and

coffee shop next door, provided refreshments after book browsing. When the restaurant moved downstairs, Village Books opened a sister store, Paper Dreams, in the vacant space. The Robinsons’s dedicated interest in not only their store, but the community around them ushered in an era of recovery and creativity in the Victorian-era village of Fairhaven.

Serving the community

The Robinsons not only helped to revive Fairhaven along with other forward thinking business owners, but set out to bring readers and writers together with author events.

One of their first efforts was the Bellingham Book Fest. They invited author Ivan Doig who lived in Seattle and Sharon McCrumb, best-selling writer from Appalachia, to come and share their experiences with Bellingham readers and authors. For someone like me just starting out as a novelist, this was a seminal moment to hear them read their work, talk about their experiences in getting published, and having events like breakfast with them at Woodworth’s. It was very low key, but this was the beginning of a long tradition of author events with top New York Times bestselling authors coming to the small events space downstairs in the building. A few years later when Charles Frazer of Cold Mountain showed up there was almost a stampede to get a seat. He was amazed at the turnout.

Before the pandemic, Village Books was hosting 250 events annually. This number included author and nonauthor events. When Louise Penny did her in-person event on the West Coast just before the pandemic, Village Books was the only store she chose. Held in our historic Mount Baker Theatre, an old cinema palace from the 1920s, the house was packed with readers from the NW and British Columbia, Canada. A wonderful night.

I especially appreciate their support of local authors. I have launched all my books at Village Books. Even during shut down of businesses in 2020, I was able to launch The Quisling Factor virtually. The bookstore events person, Claire McElroy-Chesson, learned to pivot and started presenting virtual launches. Mine was the fourth one ever. I had attendance from all over the USA and Canada, presented a Powerpoint talk, and did a giveaway. Since then, many indie bookstores in Seattle region have teamed up with Village Books to present author talks virtually. It’s a lot less expensive for publishers and bookstores and it provides a wonderful for readers to connect with world-class authors. In-person author events at Village Books, however, are back along with virtual events.

In 2004, Chuck and Dee built a new three-story home for the Fairhaven store—“just steps away from the original location.” The Fairhaven community built a village green outside their basement door with a performance stage, green grass, and a painted screen on the back wall for community movie night. The bookstore, the Colophon Café, and the green are the centerpiece of Fairhaven life and creativity.

Harry Potter on the Green and Kid Activities

From the very beginning of the store’s existence, a children’s bookseller focused on literary events for young children from toddler to pre-teen. As I had been doing hands-on history workshops with schools and museums, I did several book events offering craft activities from the period books such as The Witch of Black Pond (girlhood favorite) and couple of American Girl books. Many well-known children lit authors made their way to the story to meet with young readers. Authors Jan Brett has always been popular.

The crowning moment of kid activities at VB, as we like to call the store, was “Reveal Night” of the latest Harry Potter book. Before the book was brought out by a magician on the green at midnight, the bookstore hosted some craft activities. I volunteered to run the magic wand station using chop sticks and streamers. People were lined up around the green in the hundreds as they waited for the book to be revealed, then after the magic happened, pick up their preordered book. I saw many kids start reading as soon as they got theirs.

Open Mic

Very early on, Village Books offered local writers a chance to read their work out loud. I believe that this is an important step in writing—when you read out loud, you often encounter problems with flow and word choice. It’s a form of storytelling, but you’re telling your story to the public. It’s good training, too, for the day when éésince then. Today, though it went through a virtual only period the past two years, Open Mike is in person again, offering not only an once month 7 minute reading opportunities for twelve readers in English, but a Spanish language the hour before. Local college professor and author, Sean Dywer, leads both events.

The Chuckanut Radio Hour

One of my favorite events at Village Books is their Chuckanut Radio Hour, (URL: https:// www.villagebooks.com/village-books-chuckanut-radiohour) a recipient of Bellingham's prestigious Mayor's Arts Award. It is a radio variety show that began in January 2007. The format is rich. Each Chuckanut Radio Hour includes guest authors, musicians, performance poet Kevin Murphy, and episodes of "As the Ham Turns" serial radio comedy, performed by the Chuckanut Radio Players, group of local personalities. Chuckanut Radio Hour's first guest was Erik Larson and has since included, Tom Robbins, Maria Semple, Christopher McDougall, Erica Bauermeister, Simon Winchester, and Garrison Keillor, among many others. Past shows and present can be heard on the local KMRE radio station.

Fulfilling the Dream of Community-based Independent Bookstore

Since its launch, Village Books has gained a national reputation for its outstanding author events, support for local writers and readers including writing group for all genres from Sci-fi to poetry and promoting literacy. The Chuckanut Writers Conference grew out of a connection with the Whatcom Community College. (URL: https:// www.villagebooks.com/chuckanut-writers-classes) Held on its campus in Bellingham, bestselling authors came to present and read during the weekend conference. The college also offers writer’s workshops at the bookstore several times a year.

The forty-two-year-old bookstore continues its outreach to the greater literacy community. A long-time supporter of the Whatcom Literacy Council, (URL: https:// whatcomliteracy.org/ ) they have participated in the annual Trivia Bee. On a Christmas tree in the store every year, paper angels fill the branches with invitations to buy a book for infant to toddler, K-3, middle grad, etc. The books are dispersed to the needy and to families at our local Indian nations, Lummi and Nooksack. The bookstore also helped fulfilling the Sumas Elementary School’s Library devastated by last Thanksgiving’s floods that destroyed hundreds of homes.

Village Books has continued to grow over the years, opening a second location in Lynden, Washington in 2015. In 2017, Chuck and Dee retired and sold the store to Kelly Evert, Paul Hanson and Sarah Hutton, a highly experienced team already managing day-to-day operations for several years. Seeing themselves as stewards of the store, Kelly, Paul and Sarah have guided the store through shut-downs, changing COVID protocols and shipping challenges to once again open to returning locals and visitors to Fairhaven. For those of us who love Village Books we are so grateful for them for not only carrying on the legacy Chuck and Dee created but moving forward with exciting new ways to connect with readers and authors. We applaud them and our own efforts to support this treasure in our community. (URL: https:// w w w. i n d i e b o u n d . o r g / independent-bookstore-day

So, let’s celebrate Independent Bookstore Day on April 30, 2022. I know that I will.