“Autumn” was derived from the Latin word “autumus” and the old French word “autompne.” The origin of the word has connotations of the “passing of the year.” As we publish this newsletter we are only nine days from the passing of summer to the official start of fall.
Leaves are changing colours, pools are closing, the damn wasps are disappearing, and Open Air ends October 2nd after another great run!
Richmond street continues to get better with the opening of Evelyn’s and White Woods. Bethany has ramped up Music Land, and we look forward to her playing live music out to the street next summer. And the Richmond Street Popcorn Company will have its grand opening in only a couple of weeks.
Now here’s what we have planned for just the next couple of weeks:
This Wednesday the 14th we wrap up Fort Malden’s Alex Dale’s appearances for the year with his Martial Music 🎶 outside in our beautiful Art Alley. If you haven’t seen Alex present, you sure are missing out. The next night we have lifelong birder Bob Petit in to talk about the Hawk Festival at Holiday Beach. If you can’t make the trip to the Beach then Bob’s presentation is definitely the next best thing. We get to hear about it two days in advance!
Our team loves the annual Uncommon Festival so much we decided to invest in being the Presenting Sponsor. Great “uncommon” events will happen all over the Open Air footprint. We especially like that the “Birds of Prey” performance will be right outside our shop. Our staff will also be getting into the spirit of the event and ready to capture your uncommon look with our photo booth. And of course the famous 🦑 will be back. Under those scary tentacles our uncommonly dressed story time speaker and singer will be councillor Donald McArthur.
Next up isn’t an event—it’s our statement about banning books. When a book is “banned” it means that it has been removed from school curriculums and/or public libraries because a person or a group has objected to its content. The River Bookshop agrees with Stephen King’s advice to “read whatever they're trying to keep out of your eyes and your brain, because that's exactly what you need to know.” Our Banned Books Week starts September 19th. Look for our window display to learn what books are being banned. Our story time reader on Sunday is Lauren, and she will be reading from banned books.
We are pleased that one of our good friends, author Elaine Weeks, comes in on September 29th at 6:30pm to do a reading from her book Time Trespasser. Our review of the book will be in the River Town Times this week on September 14th.
At the end of the month, the town is doing its part hosting a Truth and Reconciliation weekend, from September 30th to October 1st. Amherstburg as a community needs to be on a journey of reconciliation, and our bookshop is assisting with these five initiatives:
- Book Club, Sept 27: discussing Bob and Cynthia Joseph’s book Indigenous Relations
- Dr. Bev Jacobs, Sept 28: presentation in the Hole in the Wall
- Oct 1st: story time with Kris Meloche
- Our bookshop is highlighting books on Indigenous culture
- River Bookshop, Evelyn’s Candy House, and White Woods will be displaying the 94 Recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission “Call to Action”
We will publish more details on this important weekend as we get closer to the date.
But that’s a wrap … for now!
The River Bookshop Team
Event Accessibility Notice:
The River Bookshop is a heritage building that was built in 1887. The main floor was restored to be completely accessible. Our second floor, the Hole in the Wall event space (where our audio-visual technology is located), is not accessible. To make our events virtually accessible, we offer Zoom broadcasts of all our events. If you would like to have access to any of these broadcasts, simply email us at info@riverbookshop.com any time before the event and we will send you the link to view it.