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Eight-year-old Augie Bidwell is gracing his neighbors with a new Little Free Library, crafted from a retired Taylor Press newspaper rack.
The Taylor Press is a sister paper of the Elgin Courier, both owned by Granite Media Partners Inc.
For the past few years, Elgin resident Augie has had a fascination with bookcases promoted by the nonprofit Little Free Library, an organization that encourages youth literacy and communal book exchanges through small, public neighborhood shelves.
The bookcases range in size, color and decoration, but all operate through an honor system of “take a book, leave a book.”
With the help of his parents, Elisha and Steve Bidwell, Augie has decided to combine his love of these libraries with his other fascination, newspaper vending machines.
“Augie has been on a mission to locate old newspaper boxes all over town since he first noticed them at gas stations around Elgin. He became curious about what they were for and where they’ve gone,” Elisha Bidwell said.
While there are still Courier newspaper racks in circulation, the presence of these pieces of Americana are diminishing across the country.
Yet when the Bidwell family reached out to inquire about any extra Courier vending machines, it wasn’t too much trouble to locate a retired one and give it to the family for repurposing.
“We are so moved by the Elgin Courier, who was so quick and so kind to help make Augie’s dreams to combine his love for old newspaper vending machines and Little Free Libraries into something really special,” his mother said. “It is such a cool way to showcase a part of history while building community.”
The Bidwells plan to register their box in the official Little Free Library database, making this the eighth bookcase in Bastrop County and the fourth in Elgin alone.
Visit https://littlefreelibrary. org/ and go to “find” for more information.
Augie is set on a red color scheme and should have his library up and running in southern Elgin shortly.
