Betsy-Tacy Convention 2025

On Friday, I flew to Minnesota for a literary convention – a gathering of nearly 200 Betsy-Tacy fans! I think it was my fifth time visiting Deep Valley, legally known as Mankato, Minnesota. The Betsy-Tacy books are based on Maud Hart Lovelace’s childhood and adolescence, and fans have purchased her home and that of her best friend who lived across the street and turned them into living history museums. While it is great to see these houses and to observe whatever enhancements have taken place since one’s last visit, I now primarily attend these events to see friends from all over the country (I don’t think there were any international participants this time but usually there is at least one Canadian and we’re always hoping Sonja from Germany will make it, as she is a favorite listserv member).

An acquaintance from the BT New York Chapter picked me up at the MSP airport and we drove south to the mother ship (should that be capitalized?), checking in at the Hilton, which is attached to the Mayo Clinic Health System Convention Center, where our gathering would take place. I was amused to see that Mankato State’s hockey team plays in the same complex which I did not remember from previous visits.

It was a lovely day so I went for a walk by the Mississippi and ran into two of my best NewBetsy friends, Deb and Ethel. We went to the Convention Center to register, get our name tags, and copies of the schedule. We were given a Class Day Programme with Emily Webster on the cover and a cunning little notebook with matching pens – perfect for making lists, don’t you know.

Ethel had not been to Deep Valley before so we brought her to the Blue Earth County Library where the entire children’s and YA department has been named for MHL: The Lovelace Wing. A mural and large picture of Maud welcome visitors into the room. Naturally, I checked the shelves – someone had been there before me putting the books into chronological order but I added Betsy, Tacy and Tib to an endcap (“I saw you do that,” Ethel observed but probably the librarian did not). Sadly, it is not a very enticing children’s room. The shelves are deliberately half empty and most of the books look recent. The library where I work one day a month is much nicer!

However, I did remember an ongoing library book sale and while the Friends Book Sale was closed, there was a rack of free paperbacks and I was pleased to find several worth carrying home: Now May You Weep, ninth in Deborah Crombie’s mystery series; Winterwood by Dorothy Eden, a gothic I hadn’t read with a Mary Stewart quote on the cover; Linda’s Homecoming by Phyllis Whitney; and a book by Jasmine Cresswell, a lovely former author of mine, now deceased. I persuaded Ethel to take home Katherine by Anya Seton, which she had never read but is a favorite of Deb’s and mine.

We returned to the Mayo Center for Opening Remarks by the convention organizers, who had been hard at work for months. There were some games: icebreaker bingo, Consequences, followed by ice cream – all interrupted by intermittent hugs as new arrivals discovered each other. Occasionally I got hugged by someone I didn’t recognize and could not discreetly read their name tag, as is inevitable when you haven’t been together since 2018. Then we walked around the corner to a steakhouse for dinner, which was unexpectedly crowded. It turned out BetsyTacys were not the only visitors in town: it was also parents weekend at Mankato State (it is now known as Minnesota State University, Mankato but I like the old name better). As we were about to be seated, I realized the person ahead of us was a BTer we hadn’t met yet. The organizers had very thoughtfully added a “First Time Attendee” ribbon on badges so we could be especially friendly to newcomers. She seemed to be alone so I invited her to join us and she accepted (she turned out to be very congenial, like nearly all BT fans). Mary turned out to be from Southern California and had booked a room through VRBO right on Centre Street (where Betsy’s and Tacy’s houses are), only to have it canceled on her at the last minute, most suspiciously. Luckily, she had found another room, although had to Uber back and forth each day.

My primary complaint about the hotel was that the bar never seemed to be open. It’s not as if I am the world’s biggest drinker but you need a gathering place at an event like this. Publishing Sales Conferences always had a hospitality suite where everyone went to drink (some more than others).

The Silent Auction featured some rare hardcover BetsyTacy books as well as some enticing sheet music of songs featured in the books:

Dreaming, Dreaming, of you sweetheart I am dreaming,

Dreaming of days, when you loved me best

Dreaming of hours that have gone to rest,

Dreaming, Dreaming, Love's own sweet message I'm bringing,

Years have not changed the old love remains, Dreaming . . .

(Yes, the lyrics are quite sappy - the words Betsy and Tacy make up are better).  I might have bid more aggressively if Sun Country Air hadn't limited me to a tiny amount of luggage.

If you have never read Betsy-Tacy, now's your chance!  I recommend Heaven to Betsy for first timers.  I think I persuaded my co-worker Katy today (if she didn't have three sons, she'd have already received a copy).