“We like to partner with community organizations and welcome people in.”

Chuck Stebelton is the Book Center Manager at the Woodland Pattern Book Center. He has participated in Doors Open Milwaukee by giving people tours of the building and showing the gallery where local artists have their work on display. He has visited other Doors Open Milwaukee events and gained great experiences in the community.

Kourtni Weldon: Why does the Woodland Pattern Book Center choose to be a part of Doors Open Milwaukee?

Chuck Stebelton: We are a small-press poetry bookstore, so people maybe need a reason to come in if they aren’t already coming in to browse or attend a workshop or a visiting writer event. We had a lot of people that came through yesterday that said they live in the neighborhood but had never been in, so that is a big reason. We like to partner with community organizations and welcome people in.

Kourtni Weldon: Could you tell me more about the business?

Chuck Stebelton: We established as a non-profit literary art center in 1979 and moved into this building in 1980. This building had a number of prior lives and uses. As part of the non profit we have a membership model, which is a part of our fundraising fees and members get a discount on books and our workshops, but I think there might be a perception that you need to be a member to come in, but that is not the case.

Kourtni Weldon: There is so much here. It’s hard to keep track of everything, isn’t it?

Chuck Stebelton: Well, I used to come here from Chicago. I moved here in 2005 to work here and I would have to have a plan while going through because I would be so overwhelmed. Part of the idea is if you didn’t know what you were looking for you could come in and browse the shelves and find something like “The Letters of Rosemary and Bernadette Mayor” or “Fug You,” the Ed Sanders book, which is a history of his own bookstore.

Kourtni Weldon: Do you personally go to any of the other businesses included in Doors Open Milwaukee?

Chuck Stebelton: My favorite experiences at Doors Open were the Frank Lloyd Wright’s Burnham Block and getting to tour those a few years ago, and one year I went into St. Joseph’s and that was really cool. It seems like the last few years there has been more of a focus on some neighborhood spaces like this, which is great.