Slightly Off the Mark

If it seems like I'm just copying and pasting last year's blog about the AFD fish fry, it's because a book deadline has me in its clutches, and I am. The info is updated, though.

If you should be near Albion during the Chain O’ Lakes Festival, don’t forget to drop in on the fish and tenderloin fry at the fire station Wednesday, June 5th. This has been an annual tradition for many decades, with proceeds going to equipment and training for the Albion Fire Department. (Indiana, for those of you near other Albions.)

Donations to the department get us all sorts of stuff, much of which helps keep us alive.

• Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
• Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"
• Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter
• Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/
• Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter
• Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter
• Tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

Remember: Every time you buy a history book, a dusty old professor gets his wings.

(While this event isn't until November, it'll get here faster than you think. After all, it already feels like November. So spread the word, and if you're going to be nearby, mark your calendar!)

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 I'm still not all that good at promoting my books or anything else, but I keep working at it. I have learned that when you send out a media release you need to include certain things, such as what the media release is for.

If you're trying to promote a fund raising breakfast, you shouldn't tell everyone it's a 5K run to benefit left-handed redheads. (Just as an example.) People will show up expecting something entirely different, although in that case it would be a pleasant surprise. "Oh, food instead of exercise! But where are the redheads?"

It's probably a good idea to tell people where it will be, not to mention when it will be. This isn't the lottery, after all: "Just show up! Maybe you'll get lucky!" My fire department's fund raising breakfast lasts two hours; your odds of hitting it accidentally are worse than the odds of finding a Congressman who retires with less money than he started with.

So I came up with what you see below. I may be able to later substitute "new book" for "pancake, eggs, and sausage", but we'll see how it works out.

Remember, messaging is all important.

MEDIA RELEASE

PANCAKE, EGGS, AND SAUSAGE FUND RAISER

Albion Volunteer Fire Department

210 Fire Station Drive

Albion IN 46701

DATE: November 19, 2022

TIME 7am-11am

COST  Freewill donation

The Albion Volunteer Fire Department welcomes everyone to a pancake, eggs, and sausage breakfast at the fire station, on Saturday, November 19, 2022. Breakfast will be served from 7-11 a.m. at the firehouse, at 210 Fire Station Drive on the east side of Albion. There will be a freewill donation, with proceeds going toward AFD training and equipment.

The Facebook page for the event is here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/621439952905744

Find all our books, including, of course, our history of the Albion Fire Department, here:

http://markrhunter.com/
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

 By the title, I mean at the Albion Fire Department you can sit down to eat ... I mean, at the Albion, Indiana, Fire Department. I've been to Albion, Illinois--very nice firehouse. Where was I?

Oh, yes. For the last couple of years the AFD's annual fish and tenderloin fry--which I'm going to shorten to fish fry, because the fish is yummy--has been the drive-through type, due to COVID. This year we're going back to the old ways, where you can sit and eat, or come on in to get a carry out order, and isn't that exciting? Yes. Yes, it is. Because the fish is seriously yummy, and I understand this year dessert is a cupcake (well, not just one) courtesy of Boo's Knead for Sweets.

The chips and applesauce are fine, but who can pass up Boo's Knead for Sweets? Me, neither.

Here's the Facebook events page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1125758564936177

It'll look something like this, only with people.

The prices are $12 for adults and $8 for kids. That might seem like a lot, but it is all you could eat--just stop eating for, say, five days before, and I'm sure you'll be happy with the result, if you don't pass out and miss the whole thing.

Be there anytime between 4:30 and 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 8th, and get fed before you head up to the Chain O' Lakes Festival on the courthouse square. We (the AFD) are at 210 S. Fire Station Drive. Don't accidentally go one block over, because the jail food isn't nearly as good, or so I've heard.

The building looks like this, only without the old firefighters standing in front of it. The 9/11 tree is still there, though.

Oh, and while you're there, ask about buying a copy of our book, Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: A Century Or So With the Albion Fire Department. Proceeds, yes, go to the AFD. Remember, every time you fail to support your local fire department, one of Santa Claus' hairs gets scorched. Save Santa's beard.

Just a week to go until what might be the prime event of the summer, considering all the other events seem to be canceled. Well, no year is perfect, although 2020 must be going for a record.

The Albion Fire Department's annual fish fry is still on, and if you don't think that's an event, you've never seen my reaction when they serve mine up. But we've had to make some changes this year in response to the coronavirus pandemic--and it's the first time for the firefighters as well as the public, so please have patience as we work out the kinks.

Instead of fish or tenderloin, this year the meal will be fish or chicken due to supply shortages. Sides will be beans and chips, but no drinks this year--however, it should be pointed out that Albion has both a splash pad and a fully functional water fountain on the courthouse square. (Kidding! If you don't have your own drinks, I'd suggest getting some from a local business.)

Sadly, the Chain O' Lakes Festival that happens the same week has been canceled this year, for what I believe is the first time in at least fifty years. But the fish fry goes on, even if it is takeout only, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. (or until the food runs out) on Wednesday, June 10. The cost of $11.00 for adults and $7.00 for children goes toward the Albion Volunteer Fire Department Auxiliary, and in the past has funded everything from emergency equipment to training resources.

Remember, the fish fry is takeout only. We'll do our best to make for safe and easy traffic flow in and out, and we ask in return for everyone to use care and watch for pedestrians--and for emergency vehicles, if a call should come in during the event.

Also as a fund raiser, the AFD's history book Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights is still on sale, with all proceeds going to AFD. Take a closer look here:

http://markrhunter.com/SmokyDays.html

After some discussion, the Albion Volunteer Fire Department has decided to go ahead and hold our annual fish fry, on Wednesday, June 10th. The fish fry, a decades long fund raising tradition for the AFD, is normally held on the Wednesday of the Chain O' Lakes Festival. Although the Festival was canceled this year due to the coronavirus situation, AFD members decided to go ahead with their event on a limited basis.

This year's fish fry will be a take-out only event, to avoid having a large number of people gathered together. That means it can't be all-you-can-eat. There is also a change in the menu, as the firefighters usually serve tenderloin, but that's coming up short this year due to pandemic-related meat supply shortages. Chicken will be the other meat served, instead.

Prices are $11.00 for adults, and $7.00 for children, and the event runs from 4:40-7:30 p.m. at the firehouse, at 210 Fire Station Drive.

So join us on June 10th--at least for a little while--on a drive-up and carry out basis. We hope to see you there!

Funds raised go to such areas as firefighter training, not to mention the equipment they train with.

The Albion Fire Department's annual fish fry -- which happens annually -- will be Wednesday, June 7th, during the Chain O' Lakes Festival. We're also having tenderloin again this year, for those of you inclined, although I can't imagine why you'd want to pass on the breaded fish. It's all you can eat, and you can't beat that unless you're a diet doctor.

I can't be there (I'll be helping to bread the fish earlier in the day, and it's one of those scheduling things where I can't do both). However, they tell me copies of Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: A Century Or So With The Albion Fire Department will be on sale at the fish fry, for $9.95. That's our book about the history of the fire department: Proceeds from book sales, as with the fish fry itself, go to the Albion Fire Department's equipment and training fund.

 So come and support your local emergency volunteers! It's from 5 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. at the Albion Fire Station, 210 Fire Station Drive, on the east end of town.  (It's traditional, when a town has a Fire Station Drive, to build the fire station there.) Price for adults is $10, for children $6, with children 5 and under eating free.

I’d like to ask everyone to considering spreading the word about two books that raise money for worthy causes:

All the proceeds from sales of Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: A Century or So With the Albion Fire Department go to, yes, the Albion Fire Department. We’re expecting delivery of a pumper-tanker in about a month, so the money could help equip the new truck, or help with any number of other expenses. Our fire department history is illustrated, but is still only $9.95 in print—and like all our books, can be ordered directly on my website:

http://markrhunter.com/books.html

There are copies at the fire station, the Brick Ark Inn, and the Noble Art Gallery, and it’s also available for $2.99 on Kindle:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DQ5NCXS

I’d like to give the fire department a nice Christmas present of a check for this year’s sales, and I hope both history buffs and firefighting fans will get something out of Smoky Days.

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Half of the proceeds for my humor-adventure novel, The No-Campfire Girls, go toward the upkeep and continued operation of Camp Latonka, Emily’s former Girl Scout camp in southeast Missouri. It’s only $5.00 anywhere good books are sold—well, anywhere this good book is sold—and just 99 cents on Kindle:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K3OS35C

The main character in The No-Campfire Girls is Beth Hamlin, a major supporting character in my novels Storm Chaser and The Notorious Grant, who also has a story of her own in my collection, Storm Chaser Shorts. You don’t have to read the others—The No-Campfire Girls is a standalone—but if you have, you know she’s the type who loves a good challenge and is never boring.

If you care for Scouts, firefighters, firefighting Scouts, or just a good cause in general, please: Purchase, review, retweet, repost, tell a friend, tell other camps/troops/firehouses, or maybe tag the book titles on a passing boxcar. I would suggest waiting until the boxcar comes to a stop.