Back home in Leelanau Township, I made the supreme effort last night, turning around after a quick supper of leftovers grabbed at the farm and coming back to Northport for an evening event, something I don’t do lightly. Time at home is too precious, and there’s never enough of it, but Sharon Kalchik was giving a presentation to the Northport Area Heritage Association about all the barns she has photographed in our township, and that I didn’t want to miss. 
Beginning her project in 2005, Sharon expected to find maybe 40 or 50 barns--60 tops. She started taking pictures of those she knew. But more and more kept turning up, down long driveways, out of sight behind hills and woods, until she had documented 120, six of which are no longer standing, having either fallen in (2) or been intentionally burned (2) or dismantled (2). It’s been a labor of love for Sharon, growing out of a personal connection to several area barns she played in as a child.“When will your book be out, and where will we be able to buy it?” was the first question after her presentation. I can only hope Sharon will overcome her modesty and get the township barn book put together while I still have a bookstore in Northport. Being able to offer treasures like this to the public is one of the great joys of being a bookseller.
Finally, since Sharon for years operated her own gift shop in Northport, the Rose Garden, I’ll close with this full-blown example, a late season beauty. Here's to you, Sharon, for a job well done!
2 comments:
"while I still have a bookstore in Northport ..."
I've seen the For Sale sign but haven't stopped by yet to ask about it.
Are you planning to close up shop?
Ruth B.
No immediate plans or desire to close the bookstore, only the ever-present awareness that the future is always uncertain (except for the certain and inevitable age factor, i.e., mine!). If you'd asked me 15 years ago how long I planned to be a bookseller, I would have had no way to predict the survival of my business for a decade and a half.
As for the "Fore Sale" sign, there's nothing I can can add in the way of information. The building will be for sale until either it sells or the owner changes his mind about selling. "What will happen to your bookstore if the building sells?" I have no way of answering that, either, because no way of knowing who might buy, what they might want to do, what they might ask in terms of rent, etc.
This is a precarious business. It's a business in which one clings to the edge of a cliff by one's fingernails. Only one thing keeps a bookstore open, and that's enough regular customers buying books at that bookstore.
I'm here now. I'm still here. Will Tinker Belle live or die? How many children still believe?
Post a Comment