Each summer for the past twelve years or so, my wife and I have taken children and grandchildren to Oglebay Park near Wheeling for several days of fun and leisure. Shortly before crossing the Ohio River, we pass an exit sign for Route 7 and Bellaire, Ohio. This past Saturday, Bellaire — not Oglebay Park — was our destination. That’s because the Bellaire Public Library was holding its first ever authors festival, and I was fortunate enough to be one of 18 authors selected to participate.

Things got off to a bit of a rough start when my wife and I discovered the library’s elevator was broken, causing us to carry my books and related supplies to the basement, where the festival was being held. Once, there, however, the festival moved along smoothly for me and the other authors. Well, there was one mishap, but that was my own fault.

Library Director Erin Rothenbuehler and Programming and Community Outreach Manager Chad Webb deserve credit for putting together a well-organized, author-friendly event. (Erin was out shoveling snow from the library walkway when we arrived.) The 6′ tables provided ample space not only for books to be sold but also for accessories such as bookmarks and candy dishes. Equally important, the tables were spaced out in neat, symmetrical rows with enough space between them to allow book buyers to move freely from one table to the next. And no author needed to go hungry. Muffins, fruit, and other snacks were laid out at a kitchen which had an open window to the author tables. We also had hot dogs and other foods from Gula’s delivered to us at lunch.

Coffee was available throughout the day, and that leads me to the mishap mentioned earlier. While chatting with an author whose table was next to the open window, I backed into the coffee maker hard enough to open the dispensing lever and send hot coffee spilling down the back of my sweat shirt. The sweatshirt was thick enough to prevent me from getting seriously burned, but I spent the rest of the festival with a huge brown stain on my back.

One of the highlights of the festival was a presentation by mystery-crime author Robin Yocum. He talked about his days as a crime reporter for the Columbus Dispatch leading into his no-so-successful efforts at nonfiction writing, which in turn prompted him to become a successful writer of crime fiction. He mentioned how he landed an agent and how he isn’t too comfortable with social media. Accordingly, he has a specialist who manages his different social media platforms. While seated at my table, I signed up for his online newsletter. When I asked him what I might expect in it, he shrugged and confessed his social media specialist handles the content of his newsletter, too.

If there was one disappointment with the Bellaire Library’s Author Festival, it was the relatively low turnout. I say “relatively,” because Erin and Chad seemed pretty pleased with the 39 people they counted coming through the basement doors. Since this was their first attempt at putting on a literary event of this kind, they were hoping for at least 20 attendees — a number they passed with ease.

Chad and Erin have three more authors festivals planned for 2026. I’ll miss the next one in April but have locked in a place for myself at their September event. I sold just three books this time, but should do better when the weather is warmer and there isn’t over a foot of snow on the ground.