Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Gary Rivlin will visit Hazleton on Tuesday, October 25, for a special event celebrating the launch of his book Saving Main Street: Small Business in the Time of COVID-19. The Chamber will host a networking mixer and book launch from 5-7 p.m. at the Hazleton Area Public Library, 55 N. Church Street.

 

Rivlin, who is a veteran journalist, spent nearly two years in the heart of America, closely tracking a small group of business owners and their employees, documenting their struggles and strategies to survive. He visited Hazleton in-person and through Zoom on many occasions during the pandemic. His book, which was released via Harper Business on October 18, features three communities in Northeastern Pennsylvania and includes the incredible stories of six members of the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce, including Fellin Jewelers, Hazle Drugs, Jimmy's Hot Dog, The Poppy Press, Smith Floral and Vilma's Hair Salon.

 

The book shares the stories of small business owners fighting to keep their businesses alive through COVID-19, while exploring the sweeping trends and government policies that had brought small businesses to the breaking point long before the coronavirus hit.

Saving Main Street: Small Business in the Time of COVID-19 has been described as a probing, empathetic portrait of a beleaguered, once-fundamental segment of American life and how its loss reflects and reshapes timeworn notions of identity and community. It also illustrates the harsh realities of running a small business, as Rivlin dissects both myths and truths: contradictions in government policy, enormous racial and class fissures, and a national identity intrinsically bound to the ideal of small business. In the end, the question persists: Even if they survived the time of COVID, how long can these scrappy small businesses continue to hold on?

 

Rivlin is the author of five books, including Katrina: After the Flood. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Mother Jones, GQ, and Wired, among other publications. He is a two-time Gerald Loeb Award winner and former reporter for the New York Times. He lives in New York with his wife, theater director Daisy Walker, and two sons.

 

Chamber members, employees, co-workers and guests are invited to attend the book launch on Tuesday and enjoy a casual, after-hours event, networking with the business community of Greater Hazleton and helping us to celebrate the launch of the book. Come meet Gary and celebrate small businesses, especially during CHAMBER MONTH.

 

Books will be available for purchase that evening, as well as a book signing by the author himself, with proceeds to benefit the work of the Chamber.

 

For more information or to register, visit our event page: https://web.hazletonchamber.org/events/Networking-Mixer-Book-Launch-4758/details