spicedogs | Garrison Keillor Book-Signing Draws Crowd in Montague

Chronicle/Kendra Stanley-Mills

Garrison Keillor signs a book in downtown Montague Monday. Keillor came to the Book Nook & Java Shop for a book signing before his performance later than evening at the Frauenthal Theater

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He was two hours late, stuck in the Detroit airport, waiting out an unexpected flight delay Monday afternoon.

A sold-out performance awaited Garrison Keillor, creator and host of "A Prairie Home Companion," later in the evening at the Frauenthal Center for Performing Arts in downtown Muskegon.

But first he had to make it to an afternoon booksigning in downtown Montague.

While Keillor passed time in Detroit, more than 300 people queued up at The Book Nook & Java Shop, in the hopes of meeting the man whose Saturday evening radio show reaches more than 3 million listeners on 450 public radio stations each week.

No one budged, despite the wait.

Chronicle/Kendra Stanley-Mills

Toni Rose, of Whitehall, holds a couple of books for author, storyteller and radio personality Garrison Keillor to sign while he was visiting the Book Nook & Java Shop in downtown Montague Monday afternoon. One of the books, "Lake Wobegon Days" was a Christmas gift Rose gave to her father in 1985 that she wanted to have signed.

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"I never thought I'd get to see him here. I'm a huge Garrison Keillor fan," said Tracy Host of Muskegon, cradling a book or two for him to sign.

Fans came with books, photographs, poems, DVDs of his 2006 hit movie, "A Prairie Home Companion," even an album from the 1970s for Keillor to sign.

Seven-year-old Katie Allyn, a second-grader from Montague, brought her "autograph dog" for the famous guy to sign next to her friends' autographs from school.

"I think he's funny," she said.

For two hours, people drank coffee and swapped favorite stories about a fictitious place called Lake Wobegon, "the little town that time forgot" that seems all too familiar in this part of the country.

When at last Keillor arrived in Montague, he emerged from the backseat of a 1964 turquoise Ford Galaxy 500 with Debra Lambers, owner of the bookshop who had organized the booksigning.

People who had waited patiently rushed outside to see him -- and maybe the vintage automobile, too -- and take his picture like so many paparazzi.

"Sorry," Keillor apologized to one and all. "So sorry."

If he was ruffled by the sizable delay, he didn't let on. He didn't speed up or rush people through the booksigning line. He listened. He asked questions. He laughed. He sang a little. He encouraged people to read more poetry. He asked people to read more books purely for enjoyment.

In an interview between the airport and bookshop, he said he's busy at work on a new book about the Fourth of July.

Chronicle/Kendra Stanley-Mills

Garrison Keillor makes a funny face as he looks for a place to autograph 7-year-old Katie Allyn's horse. Allyn was at the book signing with her father, Robert Allyn, of Montague, center.

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"Take a very simple event, like the Fourth of July ... and beneath the surface, it's extremely complicated," he said.

Keillor answered questions about his schedule. He's going to do a tour of state fairs later in the summer; he's going on the road to places like Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Ann Arbor this year. He's added a weekly newspaper column to his workload since he was last in West Michigan in 2004.

"It's a struggle," he said of the column. "It's due every Tuesday."

But, Keillor was more interested in talking with Tommy Foster, owner of the 1964 Ford Galaxy, than being interviewed.

"You're driving history," he said from the backseat, where, he pronounced, he had a "panoramic view."

Foster, a 40-year-old professional musician who just moved from Detroit back to his hometown in the White Lake area, was pressed into chauffeuring Keillor by Lambers.

"I grew up listening to him," Foster said. "His voice is burned into my memory. It's one of those elements of my childhood ... his stories."

Chronicle/Kendra Stanley-Mills

A large crowd gathers to see author, storyteller and radio personality Garrison Keillor at the Book Nook & Java Shop in downtown Montague.

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Later in the evening, Keillor would dip into his story lode about the people of Lake Wobegon.

"Really, small towns are not that interesting," said Linda Pyle of Whitehall. "He's had to embellish things a lot to make them interesting."

Pyle grew up in Owen, Wis., 100 miles due east of St. Paul, Minn., where Keillor lives. She confessed she's "never home Saturday nights" to hear a "A Prairie Home Companion." On the other hand, she never misses his musings on "A Writer's Almanac" every morning on public radio, and she reads "all his books."

So does Judy Stojak of Montague, who took the day off work to volunteer at The Book Nook & Java Shop. Four years ago, more than 1,000 jammed into the store until Keillor had signed every last book. This time around, Lambers reined in the number, keeping it to a more manageable 300.

Even though he had a 7:30 p.m. show at the Frauenthal, Keillor stayed at the book shop until 5:30 p.m., listening, talking, taking time until he had to go.

"It's all interesting," he said. "All of it."

Posted by Susan Harrison Wolffis | The Muskegon Chronicle on May 20, 2008

SOURCE: blog.mlive.com