On June 26, 2021, Catalyst Books & Gifts held our first public event: a small pop-up shop at the Signature Arts Building in Prospect Park, Minneapolis. The catalystbooks.org website barely existed and wasn't actually functional for selling anything yet, but we had a small stock of books and an ancient iPhone with a Square reader, so off we went!
The pop-up date was chosen to coincide with our neighborhood yard sale weekend, and there was lots of foot traffic until after lunch, when it started pouring rain. We had some lovely conversations with people, and even sold a handful of books! And, thanks to my mom, we sold about $99 worth of yarn and other needlecraft materials that we had inherited from our friend Susan. All of those craft sale proceeds will be donated directly to Academics for Black Survival and Wellness.