June 25th is SAVE BOOKSTORES DAY! Come out to BLUE HERON BOOKS!

Thanks to the Andrea Brown Literacy Agency we now have a date on the calendar to celebrate the brick and mortar bookstore. This is not to say we should not celebrate our wonderful local bookstores every day…but to have a special day to acknowledge your favourite bookstore…that is every book geek’s biggest dream! We spend hours walking the aisles of our bookstores, caressing the colourful spines in our favourite sections. You know how it is…your blood beats faster when you open that door and take in the whiff and wonder of the imagination in the concrete form!

We can now mark JUNE 25th on our calendars as the one day where it is imperative to visit your local book buyer. Visit the other 364 days, if you can…but you MUST MUST MUST visit on June 25th. This is the day where we support the stores we love to call our own. You know how it is. All us book geeks have our OWN stores, right. There are only two weeks left before this year’s SAVE BOOKSTORES DAY! I can’t wait to swarm MY bookstore.

So what bookstore will I be supporting on this special day? My favourite one…even though I very seldom get a chance to make it to the store. BLUE HERON BOOKS! Thankfully, the store’s owner is tireless in being active in the writing community of which I am a part! Shelley Macbeth is present with her books (I like to think of it as Blue Heron being a travelling bookstore!) at every WCDR BREAKFAST MEETING and she is also an INTEGRAL part of the ONTARIO WRITERS’ CONFERENCE! Not only is she and her crew there on the day of the conference–selling books–but she is also a non-stop resource for the conference. Her connections in the book industry are tremendous! And she is incredibly generous with those contacts. Shelley has helped procure numerous sponsors and speakers and readers for the conference. She is a GODSEND to the entire arts community of Durham Region.

I haven’t been to the actual store too many times, but I make sure to buy books from the travelling bookstore! On June 25th, I’ll be making the drive to Uxbridge to support Blue Heron. And I hope that I’ve spread the word about SAVE BOOKSTORES DAY far and wide enough that there is literally a swarm of people at the store that day. It would really make my day if the store becomes too crowded to get down its aisles! Imagine seeing a line-up OUTSIDE your favourite bookstore! Wouldn’t THAT be something!

If you are in (OR NEAR!) the Durham Region, why not make the trip to beautiful Uxbridge on June 25th…show your support for a bookstore that is really like no other bookstore. BLUE HERON BOOKS is an active and integral part of the Durham Region community. What better way to say thank you for all that support, than to buy a book or two or three or four on SAVE BOOKSTORES DAY!

Come to the BLUE HERON BOOK SWARM! Saturday June 25th, 2011 @ 9am-11am (If you can’t get out to the store quite that early…just get there sometime during the day. They will be open all day and it is a Saturday.) Why did I choose to call it a swarm? Because I imagine a swarm being all encompassing and my hope is that Blue Heron is full during the swarm to the point of looking like an epic beehive of activity. I’m a book geek. All book geeks want the world to revolve around books. Maybe on June 25th, this will happen at Blue Heron! Here’s hoping!

Click on the CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF GREAT BOOKS picture above to be taken to Blue Heron’s website. If you are unable to make the trip to the store on Saturday, June 25th…please keep in mind that you can still show your support by ordering online. You COULD order online any of the 365 days of the year, if you wish. (-:

Please help me show support to Blue Heron. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. See you at the store on the 25th!

CBC BOOKS gave Blue Heron the Spotlight as one of Canada’s Favourite Independent Bookstores. Read all about it here.

Here’s a link to the place page for Blue Heron Books. Click it for directions and other info.

The Swarm has a facebook event page. If you are heading to Blue Heron on the 25th, please consider clicking ATTENDING on the event page: BLUE HERON BOOKSTORE SWARM FACEBOOK EVENT