What Makes Stillwater a Booktown?
"What makes Stillwater a Booktown?" It is not enough to answer this
by saying that Stillwater offers 500,000 books for sale, because a few
larger cities could make the same claim. By way of broad definition, a
town is considered for Booktown status when it models the characteristics
of the original Booktown in Hay-on-Wye in Wales. Hay-on-Wye is a small
(pop. 1300) town with over 20 bookstores and an estimated 2 million books.
Its entire economy revolves around books and bookselling.
Stillwater, as a small town with 35 booksellers, had developed
sufficiently by 1994 to encourage us to petition Richard Booth, King of
Hay-on-Wye, Lord Protector of All Booktowns, for official Booktownstatus.
In a flurry of faxes, letters, applications, testimonials and gifts to
King Richard,
we attempted to get him
to visit Stillwater, a requirement under the Booktown bylaws. It was not
until Tom Loome made a personal pilgrimage to Hay-on-Wye in March of 1994
that the King agreed to consider the matter and follow up with a personal
visit. The rest is history. In a ceremony attended by the mayor and other
city notables, Stillwater was declared the First Booktown in North America
by King Richard Booth on August 26, 1994.
The proclamation can be seen, along with King Richard's official
seal, at St. Croix Antiquarian
Booksellers.
More About Stillwater
Books are enough of a reason to visit Stillwater, but in case you need
to convince someone else to go with you, there are dozens of ways to make
your case. An excellent place to learn more about this historic midwestern
town is the Stillwater Online Guide.