George Webber to read from new children’s book on Feb. 15

Meet “The Count of Buena Vista”|

George Webber will be at Readers’ Books on Feb. 15 to read from “The Legendary Life of Agoston Haraszthy, Count of Buena Vista Winery,” a new children’s book that is for sale at Readers’ and at the winery.

“Love of local history can start at a young age and what better way to start than learning about one of the Valley’s most unique historical figures,” says Rosie Lee of Readers’ Books.

The new picture book, written by Webber with artwork by a professional illustrator, gives a comprehensive overview of the eccentric figure who is credited with being “the grandfather of California wine.” Established in 1857, Buena Vista is one of the oldest continuing wineries in California.

Coming from a noble family in modern-day Budapest, Haraszthy and his family immigrated to California looking for gold, but instead struck a new fortune in grapevines. The book details the Count’s life as San Diego County’s first sheriff, his family’s relationship with Gen. Mariano Vallejo and a disaster at Buena Vista Winery that drove Haraszthy to Nicaragua, forcing him to start anew in the rum industry.

“Join us for an evening with George Webber, who you may recognize from his Plaza tour as Gen. Vallejo and Mark Twain,” said Lee.

Webber has been performing as the Count since 2011.

“I loved writing the book,” said Webber. “It’s an amazing but true tale and the book is just gorgeous. We didn’t do the book to make money, we just really wanted to share the story.”

The reading is at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 15.

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