Hi y’all!

So many of you dear humans already know and love The Lit Room and all it has to contribute to our community; and we're inviting you to join the mission of further igniting important conversations in our new, expanded building! The local excitement is palpable and we are humbled by all of the support. Cheers to the dreamers, the believers, and the readers who will make this shared venture a living, breathing reality!

Oldspeak: The Lit Room & Alliteration Ales

The Lit Room and Alliteration Ales believe in the power of conversation to drive positive change. In an era with a proven loneliness epidemic, individuals and groups alike are yearning for spaces that foster in-person relationships rooted in shared values and contribution. While the world has gone digital, there remains a pressing need and desire to reconnect on a deeper, more human level. Our collaboration, Oldspeak, aims to do just that.

We’re partnering with Alliteration Ales to open Idaho’s first book beer bar, serving up libations and literature! Our goal is to create a more versatile space that can accommodate a wide range of events, such as live music and shows, large author events and signings, art and educational talks, nonprofit events, yoga classes, tea tastings, and more. Our new location will include Alliteration’s craft beer, other great craft beer, wine, kombucha, tea, and NA beverages.

Oldspeak is the place for conversations and curiosity, and YES - we plan to be open LATE for all you creatives needing some place to get work done!

A Bit of Backstory ... 

Chelsea (left) and Shelley (right) next to their creative book vending machine

In the heart of Idaho, a shared dream unfolded when Alliteration Ales and The Lit Room discovered a common goal to create a community space that transcends the ordinary. Meet Chelsea Major of The Lit Room, and Shelley Searle and Adam Fleck of Alliteration Ales. 

When Shelley and Chelsea serendipitously met at a local brewery, Shelley clearly saw the writing on the walls. They became sounding boards for each other's entrepreneurial pursuits, recognizing a shared passion for creativity and community work. Last summer they launched their first collaboration: a custom book vending machine located at another craft brewery, Loose Screw. It made national headlines (!!). After this positive response from the community, they were both inspired and challenged to do more.

A Tale of Two Businesses

The current Lit Room is cozy AND too tiny! Fun fact: The moody red walls of the current book lounge were designed by Chelsea's friend + now business partner, Shelley!

The Lit Room started as a mobile bookstore, popping up at local markets, businesses, and (you guessed it) breweries! – please advise: hauling boxes of books across town is not for the faint of heart. The Lit Room has created a banned book club, a night market, and opened its first brick-and-mortar location in Garden City, Idaho last fall. Offering a 100% curated selection of local and global literature (both new and used), it provides a much-needed resource and third place to the community. 

Behind the scenes: Adam, observed in his native habitat, brewing a batch of Borealis Baltic Porter.

On the flipside, meet Adam Fleck. Adam is the founding brewer of Alliteration Ales. His journey started in his undergrad days as a homebrewing hobbyist and later started his first company as a craft brewing quality controller. Working with craft breweries, Adam aimed to develop and maintain quality benchmarks, providing brewers with greater control over their brewing process. This resulted in more consistent, high-quality brews with reduced wastage. 

Shelley and Adam took the leap to commercial brewing by purchasing the original Bear Island Brewing production facility. With Shelley's diverse background in city government, non-profits, event planning, and community engagement, this dynamic duo eagerly seized the opportunity to share their brewing expertise with a wider audience, injecting Alliteration Ales with an essence of innovation and a steadfast commitment to crafting libations that surpass expectations.

Where you come in!

A Room of One's Own: our building for the book bar - new to us, but full of history & characters 

We need our community to help us cross the finish line ... 

Taking on a building purchase and its required renovations are all very exciting... and expensive ! We are able to cover most of our project needs via the funds we've personally brought to the table and an SBA loan. AND - To help us get the doors open and offer you, our patrons, the experience we envision, we need a little support.

Your contributions will help us in two primary arenas:

1) A vast expansion of book selection. Have you seen Beauty and the Beast? Picture floor to ceiling bookshelves (with a ladder!) full of all your favorite titles and a 3-4x expanded selection of the current Lit Room shelves. We will expand our poetry, translation, community care, and nonfiction genres while continuing to carry your favorites and all their iterations.

2) People. With an expanded space and longer hours comes the need for more wonderful humans to serve you. Our crew will be trained on new software, operations, and how to better serve you; along with hiring the additional staff we need to make our opening as seamless as possible. 

However you choose to contribute, THANK YOU. Getting to this point has been a Herculean effort and leaning on our community for some support is the warm hug we need. 

We can't wait to welcome you in our new space. Stay tuned for campaign updates, opening dates, and more!

Rewards!

Our rewards are listed on the Perks tab (or on the right side of your page on desktop). But for your scrolling ease, here is a quick overview. Please see the individual rewards section for full details!

For folks who like all of the above ... 

• Oldspeak Members Club - $250
• Limited Edition Oldspeak Tote Bag - $40
• Craft a phrase for our giant letter board - $150

For the beer connoisseurs & enthusiasts: 

• Limited Edition 12oz Etched Logo Beer Glass - $50
• Private Beer Tasting Event - $125
• Be a brewer! Work with Adam to craft a new beer! - $500

For the bibliophiles (you know who you are!): 

• Buy a Book for a Chance at VIP Access! - $25-30
• Idaho banned book bundle - $100
• Be a bookseller! Create our front table display! $200
• Catered dinner with Authors - $500 (set of two tickets)

For the serious folks who want to make this dream a reality FAST (plus, get your own collection of books for your home):

• Let us build you your Dream Home Library  $19,500

Delivery of Rewards

After the campaign closes a survey will be sent to you to confirm your delivery address and to obtain any custom information. We expect all rewards to be delivered within 3-4 months of the close of the campaign, but will do our best to deliver to you as soon as possible. We’re just as excited to get them to you! 

Digital rewards can be delivered worldwide. We can only deliver physical rewards to addresses within the United States through this campaign. Rewards that are only available within a particular geographic region are noted in the reward description. If you live outside the U.S. and are interested in Oldspeak merchandise or other goods, please contact us and we’ll work with you to find a solution.  

Satisfaction Guaranteed

We want you to love your first experience with Oldspeak. Your feedback will help to make our book bar even better. 

If you would like to support Oldspeak in a larger way, please email Chelsea at chels@oldspeakbar.com.