I first heard of Esperanto in a book by Mario Pei, an Esperanto supporter.  No where else other than books have I seen Esperanto mentioned, and mostly in books over 20 years old.  I was wondering about ways of spreading the Esperanto to local people. This would be not so much to encourage learning, but more of just increasing the knowledge that there is such a language. Any suggestions?

The first step is to learn the language yourself. You will speak much more confidently and persuasively about the language after you have done that, even when you are only wanting to just 'mention' it.