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July 19, 2009

Fans flock to Deep Valley

Betsy-Tacy devotees gather at Mankato convention

By Tanner Kent

MANKATO — The Betsy-Tacy books are all about family and friends.

Perhaps that’s why this weekend’s Betsy-Tacy Convention in Mankato felt less like a convention, and more like a national reunion for those who still find relevance and meaning in the most enduring work created by Mankato’s most renowned author, Maud Hart Lovelace.

Mary Huntley attended the convention with fellow members of the Blue Garter Gang, a band of Mankato High School graduates who have remained connected over the years.

Erma Vollmer and her daughter, Mary Richard, came from Lawrence, Kan., to attend the convention. Vollmer first read the books nearly five decades ago. She said she shared them with her daughter during afternoon picnics when they would sit in a willow grove and read about Everything Pudding and Onion Sandwiches.

Richard, now a 30-something mother of two who’s reading the books to her own children, said those memories “are the treasures of youth that came alive for me because of Betsy-Tacy.”

Just inside the front doors of the Alltel Center, organizers set up a message board so hundreds of convention-goers could connect and communicate with each other. By Sunday afternoon, the board was filled with people asking about fellow travelers from Florida? Colorado? Indiana? Salt Lake City?

The first Betsy-Tacy gathering was held in Mankato in 1992. This year’s event marked the fifth time that the real-life Deep Valley has hosted a Betsy-Tacy Convention.

Amboy resident Kelly Reuter has attended them all.

“Our family has passed the books down,” said Reuter, adding that her grandmother used to make quilts to raffle off during the convention. “We now have five generations that love them.”

The convention was organized by a loose band of Lovelace fans who hail from across the country. Its larger aim was to benefit the Betsy-Tacy Society and its efforts to preserve the Betsy and Tacy homes, which are located at 333 and 332 Center Street and are where Lovelace and lifelong friend Frances Kenney (Tacy) resided as children.

Julie Schrader, director of the Mankato-based Betsy-Tacy Society, said the mortgages on the two homes have been paid. But the Society is still trying to restore the homes to their authentic turn-of-the-century condition. Schrader also said the Society will soon be receiving personal effects and documents from the Lovelace estate and those will need to be carefully preserved.

Schrader said the homes were open all weekend, both to convention-goers and the public, to display the progress.

“It’s so nice to see the houses from their perspective,” Schrader said of the large crowd of guests taking pictures on the lawn and browsing the homes’ newly furnished rooms. “We want to share the legacy.”

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