Adam McHugh’s crusade to raise funds toward publishing an illustrated children’s book featuring one of Solvang’s forefathers turned into reality when donations surpassed the $14,250 goal by its April 12 deadline.
“Ferd and the Magic Hat: A Solvang Christmas Story” is a whimsical holiday story for various generations, and celebrates the community and the heritage of Solvang.
The book details a children’s view of the story of the late Ferdinand “Ferd” Sorensen, honored as the Father of Danish Architecture in Solvang.
A total of 138 supporters funded McHugh’s Kickstarter goal with an extra $195, or $14,455. Those who pledged $50 or more will receive an autographed copy by Christmas, McHugh said.
“The first printing will be just 1,000 books — that’s the entire run available for Christmas 2025,” he said. “Since 300 or so are already spoken for, people should pre-order” books at $30 each. The same Kickstarter link is still active.
“We are going to do absolutely everything we can to ensure ‘Ferd and the Magic Hat’ will be available by Christmas. We hope reading it together will become an annual holiday tradition for families in Solvang and beyond,” McHugh said.
With Kickstarter, a venue to “bring a creative project to life,” all funding must be secured by a deadline — April 12, in “Ferd’s” case — otherwise, the project gets canceled.
McHugh, whose previous books include the acclaimed “Blood From a Stone: A Memoir of How Wine Brought Me Back From the Dead,” initially was told his proposed “Ferd and the Magic Hat” was “too local of a story” to be published by traditional means. However, McHugh doesn’t easily give up.
The fundraising campaign, McHugh said, was “a much more vulnerable process than I expected, with a few sleepless nights spent staring at the ceiling wondering whether I was about to fail in front of just about everyone I know.”
He and his wife, Kate, who teaches English and literature at Dos Pueblos High School, live just outside Solvang on a farm for retired horses. The two will share author credit for their book.
“I am so grateful for the people of Solvang and of the greater Santa Ynez Valley for supporting this dream, and also for the teachers and staff of Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, where my wife and co-writer, Kate, teaches, who gave so generously and helped us get the word out,” McHugh said. “To have a community of educators behind us was incredibly meaningful.
“I should entertain a run for mayor of Solvang, since I feel like I have met every single resident in person now. I was a door-to-door book salesman for a while there.”
McHugh also has written for Food & Wine, Wine Enthusiast, The New Wine Review, Psychology Today, The Washington Post, Edible Magazine, the Santa Barbara Independent, Santa Ynez Valley City Lifestyle and the Santa Ynez Valley News.
In “Ferd,” there are little details in the illustration of Solvang that are “key to the story.” Artist Allie Daigle is McHugh’s pick to illustrate his book.
Daigle has designed and illustrated dozens of children’s books, labels for craft beer, posters and various advertisements. She graduated from the University of Connecticut with a bachelor of fine arts degree in illustration and design. Her work is available at alliedaigle.com.
Sorensen built the first Danish windmill in Solvang and eventually helped inspire the town council to re-create “storybook Copenhagen” in the Santa Ynez Valley. He installed weather vanes inspired by the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, stork nests above gabled roofs, ornate woodwork in Solvang Restaurant, and the Dragonspire atop King Christian Tower.
In “Ferd and the Magic Hat,” Ferd wakes up at the dawn of the Christmas season in a wooden windmill on a hill. He has a pointy hat with enough light to power Christmas in his beloved village, until it gets snatched away by a pesky stork.
“Will he be able to retrieve it in time to light the big Christmas tree in the town square tonight? He’s going to need the aid of his animal friends, who are usually hungrier than they are helpful, if he’s going to make the whole town glow,” according to the synopsis.