Dearborn Station clock tower looms over the five block cross of the Fest Fair; getting kiddie with it(right).
To celebrate the 25th annual Printers Row book thing, (June 6-7, 10am-6pm-FREE ) the Chicago Tribune has changed the name from the Printers Row Book Fair to the Printers Row Lit Fest. In any case, they've left off a plural apostrophe that should go after Printers(') since it's their Row. A curiosity indeed but even more curious is that my contact at the Chicago Tribune refused to give a statement on why the Trib changed the title from Book Fair to Lit Fest. I'll represent my contact as 'they'. They said they weren't on the committee to change the name and didn't feel qualified to comment. When asked if they could make a comment as a general spokesperson, they declined; when asked to give an opinion off the record, they said that made them uncomfortable. So that leaves it up to us to conjecture on the name change.
Bankruptcy judge forced Trib to cut costs
Chicago Tribune, the producer of the "Midwest's largest literary event", had to cut costs in whatever means necessary, per the bankruptcy judge's decree, and decided that killing the apostrophe and cutting out one letter(book fair=8; lit fest=7) on all their signage and promotional literature could save them enough to give bonuses back to executives.
"Fair" has lost its cache
The word 'fair' was never sexy; it was, at best, fair. Think of fairs and you get county fair, art fair, renaissance fair. Think of fests and you get Pitchfork, Blues, and other kinds of cool.
Misnomers are ironic and newspapers love irony
To further support this point, all of the FREE events hosted by "premiere sponsor" the Chicago Public Library are sold out. FREE event 'sold out'? Hmmm. Unclaimed tickets will be re-released 15 minutes prior to the event on a first come/first serve basis. Expect lines for headliners Dave Eggers and Neil Gaiman, who draw an entirely different cult following.
Weather
If it rains, as expected for Saturday, FEST-goers can still have fun. If it rains at a FAIR that's a big downer that shuts everything down. If it rains at a FEST, then its even more of a party. Remember Woodstock 1999, the redux from the original officially-titled Woodstock Festival? Epic, brah.
It outgrew FAIR and became FEST.
With more than 200 booksellers from across the country, seven stages, and over 100 free literary programs, it has become more about everything literarily than just selling books. Readings, panels, signings, prize ceremonies and beer at Kasey's and Hackney's make it more...um...festive. (Both bars respect the apostrophe.)
Comments
Hmmm. My thoughts have been provoked. A valiant effort today.
Maybe "Book Fair" sounded too much like those Scholastic book sales in grade schools. "Lit" sounds edgy, or at least what the moribund and middlebrow Tribune thinks "edgy" is.
True, Pete. I think I just figured out why there's no apostrophe on the Printers Row Lit Fest: because the Trib owns it, not the Printers' Row neighborhood alliance, or whatever it is, so if it were in fact accurate the title would be "The Chicago Tribune's Printers Row Lit Fest". But that's unpleasant for signage and aesthetics. Even so, isn't the neighborhood listed as PRINTERS' ROW? Where's William Safire when you need him.
With an understanding of corporate culture, I would guess that they renamed the "Book Fair" the "LIT Fest" in a futile attempt to seem more hip and contemporary, as books are on their way out of fashion (according to the corporate yes men) and LIT can be read on an iPad or a Kindle. Come on, can't you hear them arguing around a conference table ... "Fewer people will come if it's about stodgy old books, and we want to use this opportunity to sell more electronic Tribune subscriptions."
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