There are some fun things coming up at the library for children. This Saturday is the CCDA Downtown Easter Egg Hunt. The library will be participating in the egg hunt and yes, there will be chocolate. Kids can make bunny ears headbands, there will be bunny buttons and we will show a family movie (“Norm of the North: Keys to the Kingdom”) at 2 p.m. It will be a great day downtown for family fun.
If you need to bring your children down from their sugar high later, sign out some books for a soothing storytime at home. Children’s library cards are free so there is nothing stopping you.
On May 4 we are celebrating Star Wars Day. (May the 4th be with you – get it?) There will be crafts, activities and a scavenger hunt. No registration is required, you can just drop in and participate. I am told I have to wear Yoda ears for a photo shoot – humiliating, but better than last year when I was made C3P0 without my knowledge or consent. I keep telling the marketing people that I am more of a Han Solo but the message isn’t getting through.
Library staff are visiting Grade 4 classrooms as part of our Sunrise Rotary Ride the Road to Reading program. There is a draw on May 21 and the prizes funded by Sunrise Rotary are awesome – multiple bicycles and iPads, gift cards for parents and children and even teachers, and much more. Contest entry is completed when kids from visited classrooms make a follow-up visit to the Library. There is a wrap up celebration with cake at the library on May 25. The wrap up will be open to all – please join us to help say thanks to the Rotary club.
Speaking of Sunrise Rotary, they have generously offered to fund free coffee at the library. The club will be in the library on April 30 for the first coffee morning and we will be serving on blue Mondays and hump Wednesdays after that. We are going to try to kick the quality of our coffee up a notch with good beans and actual cream instead of the usual “edible oil product” dust.
One of the library’s strategic directions is to foster a sense of community and belonging. Coffee will make our space welcoming and comfortable and will hopefully encourage connections between and among staff and patrons. Thank you to Sunrise Rotary for your ongoing support.
Ken Feser is chief librarian at Medicine Hat Public Library.
