I am super pumped as I prepare for the street fair at the Potato Days in Barnesville, Minnesota, which is Friday and Saturday, August 25^th and 26^th. As I have researched and written Keep On Rolling! Life on the Lefse Trail and Learning to Get a Round for the last year, I have had this festival in mind as the perfect place to launch the book. Barnesville, after all, is one of 13 stops on the Lefse Trail—which is central to the book—because the Potato Days has mashed potato wrestling matches and the National Lefse Cook-off. Well, the book launch is on schedule. Keep On Rolling! arrives a day or two before I drive to Barnesville. Yaba daba dooo!

I go to my fair share of art fairs, and I’ve always envied the artists and artisans. Not long after producing their art, they get feedback at the fairs and find out what people like through sales and comments.

Writers don’t get out much to sell their books in the marketplace. That’s too bad. They don’t observe how potential buyers are drawn to the book in the midst of many other products at the fair. They don’t see how customers pick up a book and leaf through it as they contemplate a purchase. They don’t hear the questions and comments about what customers think the book is about, based on the back cover, table of contents, look and feel of the book, etc. They don’t see the smiles of approval as customers read a passage or study an illustration.

So I’m jacked to jump into the marketplace at Potato Days and see how the covers, illustrations, photos, rosemaling, lefse characters, lefse-wrap recipes, lefse remembrances, original lefse quotes, heirloom rolling pins, and a brand new lefse song that are in Keep On Rolling! play to the Barnesville masses.

Michael Stein interviewed me last week for a story he was writing for the Barnesville Record Review. The story, which ran today, featured my newest book, Keep On Rolling! Life on the Lefse Trail and Learning to Get Around, which I will be selling Friday and Saturday at Barnesville’s Potato Days.

There is a whole chapter on the Potato Days in Keep On Rolling! because Potato Days is a great festival and because of its National Lefse Cook-off. The cook-off has put Barnesville on the Lefse Trail.

During the interview, Michael asked about the Lefse Trail. Is that something I made up?

When I planned the book, one of my goals was to travel to the six largest lefse-making factories and check with the owners to how the lefse market was holding up. I did so and found the factory tours to be fascinating, and the drive to each small town factory to be rewarding and relaxing. My research turned up seven other stops that held the promise of fresh lefse and lefse-related museums or festivals. What could be better in travel?

As I would tell family and friends about these journeys, I would often lead off with “My lefse travels take me to …” or “Today, life on the lefse trail leads me to …” And there is was, the beginning of the Lefse Trail.

May lefse lead you along the Lefse Trail, which covers Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and Oregon.