There's No Place Like Huckleberries The Blog...

Not to be confused with Huckleberries The Organic Food Store....

There was a fun event this past Saturday. I got a chance to meet a bunch of bloggers and some blurkers (a new word for me - it means people who look at blogs but do not post on them) at the 2009 Blogfest in Post Falls, Idaho. It was sponsored by the local newspaper (the Spokesman Review). There was free pizza and pop. Thank you, paper!

The people who gathered were the regulars for the Spokesman's blog called Huckleberries, which is run by Dave Oliviera and is primarily for Idaho (though Spokane folks are welcomed too, as well as readers all over the country - and world). DFO - as we call him - D.F. Oliviera - graciously drew my blog into the fold about three weeks ago when I contacted him about the story I was doing on the North Idaho hospice fundraiser. In turn, I've had a chance to read other local people's blogs, and I have even started posting comments at the main blog (i.e., Huckleberries).

This blog is just amazing. DFO has a gift for this blogging thing. He posts throughout the day. He asks questions of his readers. People post comments in response, and yes it is important that they choose to be active, but there is something about DFO's approach that makes the idea of commenting attractive and contagious, so I am not surprised that he has so much participation. He lists local blogs on the right hand side of his blog so it is easy to connect with other local people who are out there writing like I am. And then he also does a daily round-up of local bloggers' entries. He has given honorable mentions to several items from this ART blog, and has even featured a couple of my entries as the top local blog entry for that day. It's a lot of fun, from every angle.

I have surfed through other blogs around the country this past year - political blogs in particular. This is the first blog that I have found that is designed so well and is so natural in its networking efforts.

This is why I'm giving DFO and Huckleberries the tip of the hat today, as my Spirit of Service story. It's one thing to run a blog as your business. DFO goes out of his way to be inclusive, and is sincerely interested in figuring out what is going on out here in real-world. Thanks, Dave! Love the blog.

Oh, and I just ran into this. Apparently people were posting all afternoon long at the Blogfest (and then afterwards too). They are quite feisty in writing, aren't they? I had no idea that this was going on during the party. I am still so young and impressionable when it comes to the world of blogging.... I will give up a secret, though. All these feisty commenters were much better behaved in person. Who knew what words they were flinging about on the blog itself while simultaneously making nice, polite conversation around the room?