Romance readers flocked to Decatur, Georgia to spend Valentine’s weekend with their favorite authors. Love Y’all Book Festival took over Courtyard by Marriott Atlanta Decatur Downtown for two days of author signings, panels, shopping, and more. This is a challenging event to review because it truly felt like a tale of two events over the two days.

Saturday didn’t get started on the right foot. The signing and vendor room quickly filled with attendees, becoming overcrowded and hot. Love Y’all staff quickly added a volunteer to the doorway to control the flow of traffic. That eventually turned into a security guard, who was more aggressive than necessary and became a major topic of conversation among attendees. By Sunday, he was moved from the signing door to the central space and seemed to be more calm.

Staff also made two other changes throughout Saturday to improve the signing room experience. The first was getting the hotel approve using the portico as a signing space. Authors with longer lines were moved outside where attendees could spread out and get fresh air, and also allowed for more space indoors. Volunteers also called for those wanting books signed by authors with smaller lines and controlled the flow for longer lines. By Sunday, there were significantly fewer people in the room at once thanks to these changes, as well as having slightly lower Sunday-only ticket sales.

The giveaways were another area where major shifts took place over the two days. On day one, Love Y’all posted the giveaway schedule on Instagram, asking people to not line up until 30 minutes before the drop. People continually kept trying to get in line early, adding to the congestion problems. Sunday, staff opted to not publicly share the schedule and switch to 10 minute warnings for tickets through the app. While a couple drops did get a little crazy, overall, it was a much smoother experience.

The way the staff continually pivoted throughout the weekend was impressive. It’s incredibly difficult to make major changes while an event is rolling, but they pulled it off repeatedly, and continually improved the experience throughout the event. In speaking with staff, they were truly open to suggestions beyond ‘get a bigger space’ because they have eyeballs too.

This is only the third year for Love Y’all, and seeing the exponential growth since last year was sure to come with growing pains. However, they did their best to handle it with grace and kindess. One member of staff said, “If people are at least 70% happy with this weekend, then I’m happy.” When all was said and done, they hit that mark, and are looking forward to making tweaks over the next year to make year four even better.