What’s going on this week? Red Balloon Bookshop celebrates its 40th anniversary and the Minnesota Mystery Night reading series moves into its new home in Mendota.

The Red Balloon, beloved by two generations of kids and parents, opened Nov. 17, 1984, in the Victoria Crossing Mall at Grand and Victoria, and in 1989 moved into the pretty, cottage-like building at 891 Grand Ave. in St. Paul, with carved wooden bears out front. Co-owners Carol Erdahl and Michele Cromer-Poire, who built the business through good customer service and lots of in-store events, decided to retire after 27 years in 2011 and sold it to Holly Weinkauf and a partner who later left.

“We wouldn’t sell the store to just anybody,” Cromer-Poire told the Pioneer Press when the sale was announced. “We wanted somebody with fire in the belly.” Weinkauf, who grew up in New Mexico, said she’d been thinking about owning a bookstore for a long time and was looking forward to continuing the previous owners’ legacy.

Weinkauf has a degree in English literature from Colorado College and a master’s in library science from UCLA. She was a children’s librarian in Houston in classroom and school libraries, and was a childbirth instructor and doula in New Mexico. She and her husband, Don, have three children.

Now the Red Balloon offers books, toys and gifts for all ages, weekly story times, and appearances by award-winning local and national authors and illustrators. In 2018 it won the Women’s National Book Association’s Pannell Award for Children’s Specialty Bookstore and in 2024 was a finalist for Publishers Weekly Bookstore of the Year.

The weeklong birthday party culminates in an all-day celebration Saturday. There will be a storytime dance party hosted by Red Balloon storytellers Kelly and Angela, a Storybook character costume parade, face painting, and music with Joe Mailander of The Okee Dokee Brothers. At 4:20 p.m. there will be a toast with Weinkauf and a special guest along with a poster unveiling. (Information at redballoonbookshop.com.)

Mystery night’s new home

Minnesota Mystery Night settles into its new home Monday at Lucky’s 13 Pub, 1352 Sibley Memorial Highway, Mendota, just a couple of hundred yards from its previous venue, Axel’s Restaurant, which is closing. Headliner will be author Mike Faricy, who splits his time between St. Paul, his birthplace, and Dublin. Described by Robert Carraher as “Minnesota’s Master of the Bizarre,” and dubbed the next Carl Hiaasen by Crime Scene magazine, Faricy is the prolific author of four mystery series totaling more than 80 titles. He’s written 38 books featuring St. Paul private investigator Dev Haskell, the latest of which is “House Guests.” He also writes the Jack Dillon Dublin Tales, Corridor Man and Jack Hotshot series.

“My books are filled with the sort of oddballs we are all curious about, but wisely, prefer to keep at a distance,” Faricy told Goodreads website. “None of my characters will be saving the world from terrorism, international banking conspiracies or coups to take over the government. Rather, they inhabit a world just below the surface of polite society, characters with one foot on either side of the law. The circumstances they find themselves in are usually due to bad decisions, but bad decisions lead to interesting stories.”

Faricy will be in discussion with Minnesotan Alan Miller, celebrating release of “Fire Fight in Shelter Rock,” latest in his series featuring reporter Mort and his lawyer wife Danni. It’s a look into the national network of people who want to ban books and freedom of speech issues raised after a small newspaper is raided and computers taken.

Monday’s program begins at 7 p.m. There is a $13 cover charge and reservations will be taken only online. Go to mnmysterynight.com. Dinner service begins at 5 p.m. and reservations are not taken for dining.

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