Sarah Palin Book Tour Birmingham November 23, 2009

The Sarah Palin Book Tour stopped at Books-A-Million in Colonial Brookwood Village Mall in Birmingham, Alabama, on November 23. She was scheduled for a three hour signing. Each person could have two books signed.

Eighteen-hundred people showed up the day before the Birmingham portion of the Sarah Palin Book Tour, each hoping to get one of the one-thousand wristbands that would guarantee a few words with Sarah and a signed copy of her new book Going Rogue. The store staff was scheduled to begin distributing the wristbands at noon. We arrived a couple hours before that.

Kathy and I walked in the front door of the store and saw a short line at the sales counter. We found out later that the the first couple hundred people in line had camped out overnight.

As we walked farther into the store we saw that the line was weaving around the aisles, out the door, and into the parking deck. It took a few minutes to find the end of the line.

Waiting in line wasn't painful. Conversation with others in line made the two hours pass quickly. I left the line frequently to see what was happening inside the store. Many of those in line inside had bought their books, and a some of them had just about finished reading it.

This man was near the front of the line. He has been walking across the country since June to protest "wasteful and dangerous" government spending. Here he is being interviewed by a reporter.

Here is another one who was at the front of the line, happy to have her wristband.

Just before we got to the front of the line, I heard that the "guaranteed" autographs would stop at six-hundred. Numbers on wristbands would jump up to one-thousand from there, and your band would be "standby." No doubt this stipulation was added to the Sarah Palin Book Tour Birmingham date to avoid the problems that had already occurred at previous stops on the tour, when there wasn't time enough to get to everybody in line. Our wristbands were just past the first six-hundred.

After we received our bands and waited in a fairly long line to buy our four books, we went to lunch. We had tickets for a 3:00 Mike Huckabee book signing for his new book, A Simple Christmas, at the same store.

Kathy couldn't attend the Sarah Palin Book Tour signing the next day, but I took all four books anyway. I arrived at the mall a couple hours early. I think almost everybody else did also - the area near the store was packed.

There was no worry about Books-A-Million running out of books. They were from one end of the store to the other.

Only one-hundred people could get in line at a time. Store staff were very cautious about who could get in line. Each person had to have a wristband and a receipt. At 3:30 the line begin to move. I thought there was good chance that there would be time enough to get past the first six-hundred people, but just to be on the safe side, I looked for someone with just one book near the front of the line. I found a very nice family that said they would be happy to get my books signed since they only had one each. I gave them my receipts and got the bright idea to buy two more books, just to get the receipts.

I could tell it was going to be at least a couple hours before I could even get in line, so I went back inside the store to wait on the family that had two of my books. After having their books signed, people were directed to an escalator that took them to the bottom floor of the store.

Sarah Palin's father, Chuck Heath, was milling around, greeting people, and being interviewed by the media. He signed autographs for all who asked.

Even a Sarah Palin Look-a-Like got interviews.

Everybody moving down the escalator looked happy except for this lady.

She didn't get "her" books back. She had something tucked away in one of her books. To speed the line up, those who reached the signing table would place their book in a stack. Sarah would pick one at random, sign it, and move it to the other side. After meeting with Sarah, on the way out, each person picked any book from the signed stack.

Everybody else looked as happy as this young lady.

About thirty minutes into the signing the family with my books came down the escalator. After they gave me my signed books, they got an interview.

After getting my two signed books, I went back up to the second floor of the mall. About thirty minutes before the signing was scheduled to end, my number was called. Just as I was about to enter the store, a store employee confiscated a Sarah Palin sign someone had given me. Almost as soon as I got to the front of the line, a store employee took my bag of signed books and even my coat. No one could take anything into the signing area except books. Just before I got the the table, I was greeted by Sarah's aunt. she pointed out other family members - three of Sarah's children and her mother. She almost always travels with family members, and the Sarah Palin Book Tour is no exception.

Meeting Sarah Palin was a delight. She seemed genuinely interested in the extremely short conversation that I had with her. After meeting her, I think anyone would understand how she got so far ahead so fast, regardless of whether or not they agree with her politics.

Since all cameras were stored away from the signing area, there are no pictures of the signing. A professional photographer took pictures of each person as their book was signed. I was given a card with a website address and the wording "Kindly Allow For 5 Days After The Event For Photos To Appear." I suppose this perk will be added to the rest of the Sarah Palin Book Tour dates.



Sarah Palin Posters

Go to Sarah Palin Going Rogue from Sarah Palin Book Tour

Did You Attend a Sara Palin Book Signing?

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