Night Owl Books grand opening Friday, Aug 30.
Shay Fiddler, the owner of Night Owl Books in Humboldt sits in one of the reading areas available in the store for customers to use. Fiddler is looking forward to hosting book clubs, game clubs and other events at the store. Humboldt Independent photo by April Kelley.
By APRIL KELLEY
Most people have a party thrown for them on their birthday, but this year, Shay Fiddler plans to throw her own birthday party. One that she has been working towards for longer than she can remember. Fiddler’s birthday party this year will include the grand opening of her store, Night Owl Books on Friday, Aug. 30, from 1 pm. to 9 p.m.
The store, located at 605 Sumner Avenue, has a varied history. At one time it has been a bank, a barber shop, a photography studio, an outlet store for frozen meals among other things.
Fiddler has gone through a few changes in her life as well. She grew up in Humboldt and graduated from the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). She originally planned to study English to pursue a career in publishing but later decided to major in interactive digital studies and minor in journalism.
“I always wanted to do something related to books. I minored in journalism because I wanted to keep that writing part of my career somehow,” Fiddler said.
After graduating from college in 2018, Fiddler moved back to Humboldt and began working at Hy-Capacity in the marketing department and has worked there for the last six years.
“It was a great job. I did their social media and a lot of writing for them but I always kept it in the back of mind that I wanted to something more of my own,” Fiddler said.
“I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I didn’t exactly know how that would manifest. I always kept reading in my life but there were these other areas of my life I wanted to add as well,” Fiddler said.
Those other areas of her life that she wanted to add was a love of games, especially strategy games such as Dungeons and Dragons.
“My husband and I (Connor Fiddler) bonded over Dungeon and Dragons (D&D), so we have a group of friends we get together with regularly to play D&D with,” Fidder said.
Fiddler has talked to others who would like to play D&D but there are many barriers to starting. The game requires someone to run it, to teach new players how to create a character and the rules of the game.
“It’s not like other games. We will have nights where we will go over character building and we can start campaigns, that is what the games are called, campaigns,” Fiddler said.
D&D is not the only game that Fiddler plans to have available to play. She will have cribbage, chess, risk, and a host of other games as requested by the patrons.
Along with the games, Fiddler plans to include other events as well.
“Of course we plan to have a book club. We will see with community feedback what kind of books we want to read,” Fiddler said.
Fiddler expects the first year to contain some trial and error. Having grown up in Humboldt, her parents are Damon and Dru Saathoff, she feels a close connection to the community and its residents.
Read the full story in this week's issue of the Humboldt Independent!
