DOWAGIAC — Book enthusiasts have a chance to take part in a book discussion that is happening this month.

The Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Church’s Book/Movie Discussion group will be hosting Mayor Don Lyons’ book, “The Heddons and Their Bait,” at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Parish Hall at the church, 51841 Leach Road in Dowagiac.

“We have done a number of book and movie discussions for about 10 years. Over the years we have discovered that more people will come if we do not include the months of November through March. Consequently, we now have discussions from April-October,” said Charlotte Poole, member of the Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Church book/movie discussion group.

The book is about James Heddon and Son Company and its many products, the people and events behind those baits, said Donald Lyon author of “The Heddons and Their Bait.”

The Heddon family immigrated from England to America in 1831 and moved to Dowagiac in 1860. In 1902, they founded James Heddon and Son Company to manufacture James’ new fishing bait. The company ultimately grew to become the world’s largest manufacturer of artificial fishing baits in the 1950s. 

“For the last 23 years, we have been collecting Heddon items, but we were thinking, ‘does this really tell the Heddon story?’ It got to the point where we had the largest collection of all things Heddon but it was just piles of stuff and it didn’t tell the story,” Lyons said. “I set out to do that research and in the process I used my conclusions to write a book. I gave myself a year to write it. I tell people that you have to see the museum in order to understand the book.”

The organization prefers to invite local authors to present. “We had contacted Mr. Lyons before listening to him speak at the Dowagiac Museum in April, but even after his presentation we were sure that people would attend the next discussion perhaps because they had missed the museum’s presentation, had their appetite wetted for additional information or had additional questions for Mr. Lyons,” Poole said.

The public is invited to attend the event. There will be refreshments and books will be available for purchase.

“We basically meet from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., with a break for refreshments about half way through. PowerPoint visuals are encouraged with an audience question and answer session to follow the presentation,” Poole said. “All are welcome to attend and one does not need to RSVP, but rather just show up. We usually have between 10 to 25 people in attendance, but do expect a larger crowd since this is a topic in which many people of Cass County and Dowagiac might have a vested interested.”

For additional information, contact Terri Moore at (269) 782-6925 or tsewmoore@outlook.com.