Winnipeggers Release 139 books in a Week
A Challenge to release at least 138 books for Canada Day succeeds
by gypsysmomJuly 20, 2005
It all started with a post from amambaw challenging all Canadian BookCrossing members to release books for Canada Day (July 1) and thus push for more Canadian BCers. She thought that we should give the Brits a run for the number of new registrants because
they consistently outrank us (never mind that they outrank us considerably in population too).
I posted in reply that I would make an "all out effort" in Winnipeg but at the time all I thought is that I would make a special effort to release books for the week or so before Canada Day. Then on June 23rd Pooker3 also saw the post and said she would take part. A lightbulb goes off in my head and I think to myself, "Wouldn't it be great to release 138 books in Winnipeg in the next week to recognize the fact that it was 138 years ago that Canada was created?" Before I could censor myself, my fingers were dancing over the keyboard. I asked Pooker3 and LazyDaisy0413 and mrsgaskell and some others on the forum if they were interested. Pooker3 and LazyDaisy0413 (affectionately called LD hereafter) said they were in. I then sent PMs to all the Winnipeggers I thought were somewhat active and invited them to join. I decided to offer incentives but I don't think they were a major inducement for the releases. As I said in one of the posts "... the real incentive is the fun of doing wild releases and seeing what happens to them."
The week started on June 24, but really picked up speed when LD released 23 books in about an hour on the morning of June 25. I was encouraged by more people replying to my PMs and seeing more release alerts coming into my inbox but I was wondering if 138 books was rather a tall order. By June 28, 84 books had been released and I thought it could possibly, perhaps, be done. Some books had been caught and the journals were positive. Snorie8 who caught one of LD's books wrote "What a cool thing to do." An Anonymous Finder said "Loved the bookcrossing concept." Jocman and his son intended to pass the book along for others to enjoy. Magnolia31 found another of LD's books, read it and re-released it for the challenge. One of our active members, day-zee, wrote about her experience in finding LD's books "Thanks for the beautiful bike ride LazyDaisy. It has been a long time since I had been in the Leo Mol garden. I saw a family of ducks, a family of geese, shopped for books and took in the gorgeous morning sights."
Then the weather turned nasty and the release numbers went way down. I was going out of town on June 30, and when I left we still needed 47 more books to be released to reach our magic number. It was hard to wait until I got home to check my email and count the release alerts. My heart in my mouth I started totalling up the results. Thank goodness, LD got out and released 29 more books, but everyone contributed and the final number was 139. Woo-Hoo!
The catches keep coming in. As of July 19, there were 16 "wild" catches and 3 catches by BC members. Twelve new Canadian members have been generated and we even contributed a new member to the USA total. Bigred1777 of Rochester, Minnesota saw one of Pooker3's releases at the train station. "I thought it sounded extrememly cool and wanted to do it. My grandma said that she didn't know if it was safe and that's when my aunt said that she knew of this neat program. We all agreed it was something I should do." Mrsgaskell had one of her releases caught by an aspiring writer, iamcliff, who said "[T]he bookcrossing concept is interesting and I am curious to experience what comes of it." Another of Pooker's releases generated the following journal from green00 "So far am struck by the local references. First time I've read anything set in Winnipeg. When [w]as this written? There is a reference to Eaton's store." I think the last sentence was written with tongue firmly in cheek as there was considerable controversy when the building that used to house the defunct Canadian department store was demolished to build a new arena.
I call this an unqualified success. We reached our goal, generated new members, heightened camaraderie among BookCrossers in Winnipeg, and most importantly, had fun.
I posted in reply that I would make an "all out effort" in Winnipeg but at the time all I thought is that I would make a special effort to release books for the week or so before Canada Day. Then on June 23rd Pooker3 also saw the post and said she would take part. A lightbulb goes off in my head and I think to myself, "Wouldn't it be great to release 138 books in Winnipeg in the next week to recognize the fact that it was 138 years ago that Canada was created?" Before I could censor myself, my fingers were dancing over the keyboard. I asked Pooker3 and LazyDaisy0413 and mrsgaskell and some others on the forum if they were interested. Pooker3 and LazyDaisy0413 (affectionately called LD hereafter) said they were in. I then sent PMs to all the Winnipeggers I thought were somewhat active and invited them to join. I decided to offer incentives but I don't think they were a major inducement for the releases. As I said in one of the posts "... the real incentive is the fun of doing wild releases and seeing what happens to them."
The week started on June 24, but really picked up speed when LD released 23 books in about an hour on the morning of June 25. I was encouraged by more people replying to my PMs and seeing more release alerts coming into my inbox but I was wondering if 138 books was rather a tall order. By June 28, 84 books had been released and I thought it could possibly, perhaps, be done. Some books had been caught and the journals were positive. Snorie8 who caught one of LD's books wrote "What a cool thing to do." An Anonymous Finder said "Loved the bookcrossing concept." Jocman and his son intended to pass the book along for others to enjoy. Magnolia31 found another of LD's books, read it and re-released it for the challenge. One of our active members, day-zee, wrote about her experience in finding LD's books "Thanks for the beautiful bike ride LazyDaisy. It has been a long time since I had been in the Leo Mol garden. I saw a family of ducks, a family of geese, shopped for books and took in the gorgeous morning sights."
Then the weather turned nasty and the release numbers went way down. I was going out of town on June 30, and when I left we still needed 47 more books to be released to reach our magic number. It was hard to wait until I got home to check my email and count the release alerts. My heart in my mouth I started totalling up the results. Thank goodness, LD got out and released 29 more books, but everyone contributed and the final number was 139. Woo-Hoo!
The catches keep coming in. As of July 19, there were 16 "wild" catches and 3 catches by BC members. Twelve new Canadian members have been generated and we even contributed a new member to the USA total. Bigred1777 of Rochester, Minnesota saw one of Pooker3's releases at the train station. "I thought it sounded extrememly cool and wanted to do it. My grandma said that she didn't know if it was safe and that's when my aunt said that she knew of this neat program. We all agreed it was something I should do." Mrsgaskell had one of her releases caught by an aspiring writer, iamcliff, who said "[T]he bookcrossing concept is interesting and I am curious to experience what comes of it." Another of Pooker's releases generated the following journal from green00 "So far am struck by the local references. First time I've read anything set in Winnipeg. When [w]as this written? There is a reference to Eaton's store." I think the last sentence was written with tongue firmly in cheek as there was considerable controversy when the building that used to house the defunct Canadian department store was demolished to build a new arena.
I call this an unqualified success. We reached our goal, generated new members, heightened camaraderie among BookCrossers in Winnipeg, and most importantly, had fun.
