The Gainesville, Fla., Alachua County Regional Airport now features a book vending machine highlighting Florida authors, courtesy of the Lynx bookstore. The Gainesville Sun reported that the machine was "unveiled by the Lynx bookstore co-founders Lauren Groff and Clay Kallman, a married couple who view the vending machine as a passion project. The hope is that the vending machine will provide book readers and frequent flyers another way to enjoy their flight experience."
The bookstore shared an Instagram video chronicling the arrival at its new destination and noting that the vending machine "features Florida authors including Zora Neale Hurston, Carl Hiaasen, and Karen Russell. Huge thanks to @oldfloridavibes [Hunter Turner] for the amazing art on the machine!"
Speaking at the June 26 airport authority meeting, Kallman thanked the board for its support, the Sun noted. He also said that bestselling author Groff had planned for the vending machine as long, if not longer, than the bookstore: "She flies in and out of this airport four or five times a month and has felt the need for some way of providing Florida literature to the half a million visitors that you'll have here, coming and going."
Artist Turner commented: "I'm honored to welcome visitors and locals to Gainesville with artwork inspired by the incredible work the folks at the Lynx are doing to preserve and protect the written word for all."
Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward recalled the moment when he and a dozen other mayors were walking around downtown and entered the Lynx bookstore. "He then asked a rhetorical question to the airport authority: In what other U.S. cities can people stumble upon iconic writers in a nearby business?" the Sun noted.
"We just happened to walk into Jack Davis, the Pulitzer-Prize winner who lives in the Duck Pond neighborhood, and happened to talk with Lauren, a National Book Award finalist," Ward said. "That doesn't happen in most cities! The opportunity to highlight the success of that small business who is fostering that kind of thing on South Main Street and here in the airport where you can't miss it, where it helps feeds people's intellect and travel experience, it's a big step forward."