Deep Valley News Briefs:

What are you waiting for?  There’s still time to register!  Join the Crowd for some fun in Deep Valley!  Full convention packages are still available.   Go to the registration page to download the form now!

There’s also still time to register (until July 10th) for the walking tour of Maud Hart Lovelace’s Minneapolis neighborhood after the Mankato convention.  See the Twin Cities Excursion web page for details. 

Check the Deep Valley Blog for the latest updates, fun Crowd chatter, gossip, articles, posts, and information!

Can you offer a ride from the Twin Cities to Mankato for a fellow convention participant or two?  Go to the Room and Ride Share page for instructions on how to connect with others needing rides and/or roommates.  It’s a great way to meet other BT fans and a way to cut costs.

Do you TWITTER?  Check out the Betsy-Tacy Twitter page and start tweeting! 

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Please join us in Mankato, Minnesota, for a celebration of the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace!  The theme of the 2009 convention is “Forget-Me-Nots:  Betsy-Tacy Family and Friends,” and will honor Maud Hart Lovelace, her Betsy-Tacy series of books, and the history of small town life in Minnesota.  Events will be patterned on actual events in Maud’s own life that later became the stories in her books. 

Bestselling author (The Princess Diaries; How To Be Popular; All American Girl, and many others) and Maud Hart Lovelace fan Meg Cabot will be speaking at the convention on Monday, July 20th!  Don’t miss her!

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Here’s your chance to meet other fans who “thought they were the only ones” who had ever read the books!  You’ll be able to tour the settings of Maud’s stories and imagine yourself back in early 1900s Minnesota when a little girl named Betsy Ray met a shy little redhead named Tacy Kelly, and the two became lifelong friends. 

Visit Tacy’s house, now beautifully restored by the Betsy-Tacy Society, and view many artifacts mentioned in the books.  You might see Mr. Ray’s coffee pot or Mrs. Ray’s cherished brass bowl!

Wander into Betsy’s house, currently undergoing renovations, and imagine Betsy scribbling stories and letters at her trunk desk, or the Crowd singing around the piano and rolling up the rug to dance.

Sit on a replica of the bench where Betsy and Tacy ate their dinners and where Betsy’s imagination took flight in stories for Tacy.

You’ll also see many other sites and homes mentioned in the books, connect with other fans who treasure the stories as much as you do, explore “Deep Valley,” and escape for a while to the world Maud Hart Lovelace created.

So pack your valises with your Magic Wavers, face cream, Merry Widow hats, Jockey Club perfume, calling cards, and caramels for the train, and join us!

Convention logo design by Greta Huls; cover illustration from Betsy’s Wedding used by permission of Harper Collins Publishers