Local Writers Tackle History of Safety Harbor

For an aspiring author who loves their community, there’s no greater honor than being asked to write a book about the history of the town they call home.

But to paraphrase an old saying, with great honor comes great responsibility. 

That’s the feeling local writers Laura Kepner and Warren Firschein have in regards to the news that they’ve been tapped to write a history of Safety Harbor for national publisher History Press. 

The pair wants to bring a fun yet informative style to what are typically dry reads, and they plan to cover a lengthy time frame.  And they want to accomplish this without doing a disservice to the community – or themselves.

“We want to portray the history as accurately as possible,” Kepner, founder of the Safety Harbor Writers and Poets group, said. “We want to do it right.” 

“When people think of the histories of towns they tend to go way back,” Firschein, an attorney and member of Kepner’s writers group, added. “We’re going to take it from the beginning right up to the present. 

“To me the most daunting part is to put all the information together into a flowing narrative.”

The duo, who are both currently attempting to get their first novels published, don’t claim to be historians, and they don’t have a lot of the necessary information and photographic representation a book of this nature requires.

In fact neither of them grew up in Safety Harbor, or Florida for that matter; Kepner came here from Washington State five years ago, while Firschein migrated from Maryland via New Jersey in 2007. 

That’s where the assistance of city leaders and local residents are going to play a vital part in shaping the book, which will run roughly 120 pages and contain 45 to 50 photographs. 

“We want people to send us their photographs, stories, memories,” Kepner said. “We’re looking for little things you wouldn’t hear unless you grew up here.” 

Kepner said she had Firschein go over the contract with History Press with his lawerly eye, and she assures everyone who contributes photos to the book will be properly credited – though not compensated - and they will be able to keep their pictures. 

With a tight schedule – the publisher wants the book ready by August – and a distribution plan that includes Barnes & Noble, local bookstores and area libraries and civic facilities, Kepner and Firschein are feeling the heat a bit.

But that’s not going to prevent them from doing the job and, hopefully, doing it well.

“I feel pressured because we don’t have a lot of time, but relieved I don’t have to do it alone,” Kepner said.

“We’re proud of our town so we want it to be done well.”

If you have any photos, documents or memories of Safety Harbor you would like to share with the writers for the book, please contact them by sending an email to safetyharborwritersgroup.com. 

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