By Madison Fisler Lewis
Sept. 30, 2014. On Sept. 14, Chetola Resort in Blowing Rock hosted Jan Karon, author of the popular Mitford Series, for a meet and greet event that brought hundreds of fans out to meet her.
“It was a huge success,” said Marcia Greene, director of marketing at Chetola Resort. “The weather didn’t cooperate that day, but we had the event in a huge tent and we had slightly over 400 people, so it was great.”
At the beginning of the event, Karon was honored with the key to the city, given to her by Blowing Rock Mayor J.B. Lawrence. Afterwards, Karon participated in an interview onstage with the president of her fan club, Cathy Kane. Following that, Karon entertained questions from the audience and even posed for pictures with fans.
“She answered a lot of questions, so that was great,” Greene said. “She also posed for pictures with every single person that was there. The line for that went as far as the eye could see!”
Attendees got the chance to purchase the newest installment in the Mitford series during the event.
“Her publisher had a big truck there and they had tons of her books, all signed. They sold a huge amount and everything was perfect. She was happy and the fans were happy.”
And this is not the first event that Chetola has hosted for Karon, and they hope that it won’t be the last.
“We have hosted other events for her before, this is certainly not our first,” Greene said. “Two other times when she was in Blowing Rock for fan events we have been in charge of hosting events. She did let everyone know that she is writing another book to be released next fall. When that book comes out, I hope she comes to see us again.”
Check out photos from this exciting event.
Photos by Jim Greene
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