As I assume you now know, we celebrated the first 40 years of MBWs in Duluth in early January. As part of this Reunion Weekend, Barb Akre created a 138-page book filled with photos and thoughts contributed by MBWers. The first printing of this amazing project was available at our reunion, but only a few of you were able to briefly thumb through a few of its pages.

After the reunion, Barb spent additional time editing some of the content, so that a “final” online version is now available for your page-by-page viewing – see link above. (Note: please do not order any books from this Mixbook page, which is only displaying the book for viewing, not selling it.)     

Again, the book is 138 pages long, all in color, will be 8.5 x 8.5 inches in size, and its soft cover on heavy 80# glossy paper will perfect-bound (i.e., the standard binding used on most books). It will be probably available by late April for about $20 per copy – depending on how many are printed.

My guess is that a total of around 30-40 copies will be printed, with the printing cost about $25-30 per copy. Accordingly, they will probably be sold at below cost (about $20) – thanks to a donation from an anonymous MBWer. More copies can be printed if there is enough interest, so please thumb through the online pages shown above, and indicate what your tentative interest might be at this time. If possible, let me know this sometime before April 10 or so, so that our initial order can be placed before the end of this month. (Also let us know if you notice any errors on any of the pages, since there may still be time to make some corrections.)    

Most of the books will be distributed in person beginning in late April: either directly from myself (KRE) in Duluth; from John Quinn or Frank Forsberg who live in the Twin Cities (the co-founders of the next generation of MBWs); or at any of the new MBWeekends scheduled in 2026 – see mbwbirds.net). Copies can be sent via USPS to those who no longer live in MN and unable to receive a book in person. More details on book distribution will be announced later.