If you grew up on the Betsy-Tacy books, as so many of us in Minnesota did, then you might want to get to Mankato for the Maud Hart Lovelace convention July 17-20 at the Alltel Center.
The series of novels for children and teens was set in the early 1900s in the fictional town of Deep Valley and was based on Lovelace's childhood in Mankato; Lovelace based the character of Betsy Ray on herself, and Tacy and the other characters were based on her friends and relatives.
Food was an important part of the novels -- ice cream at Heinz's Cafe; onion sandwiches made by Betsy's father on Sunday nights; picnics that Betsy, Tacy and Tib lugged up the Big Hill on summer evenings. And food will be an important part of the convention, with a re-creation of Heinz's ice cream parlor, a picnic and a traditional Ray family breakfast before Saturday's walking tour of Mankato (including tours of Betsy's and Tacy's houses).
Keynote speaker will be Meg Cabot, author of "The Princess Diaries" and an avowed Lovelace fan.
To register, go online to web.mac.com/btconvention/BT_Convention/Betsy-Tacy_Convention.html.
At noon July 21, the Lowry Hill East Neighborhood group and the Maud Hart Lovelace Society will dedicate a memorial to Lovelace in Mueller Park in Minneapolis. As an adult, Lovelace lived in a house there that has since been razed.
HarperCollins will rerelease the entire Betsy-Tacy series this fall, with new introductions by Cabot, Laura Lippman, Anna Quindlen and others.
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