On Friday, on the west patio of the city of Longmont Public Library, music from Disney’s Encanto and children’s laughter filled the air.
Children and adults celebrated the opening of the Summer Reading Program at the Longmont Library, which ends on July 31.
The summer reading program consists of a Bingo board of reading and other activities. Participants vary in age from infants to 17-year-olds. Participants aim to complete a row, column or diagonal of reading activity challenges, the reward is a book prize at the end of the summer. Prizes also will be awarded if participants complete the entire Bingo board.
No registration is required to participate in the program. In order to enter, participants can go to the library and get the bingo board or print it off the library’s website.
Claire Studholme, children and teen’s librarian manager, explained that the program is really geared towards engaging the community and ensuring kids keep reading and learning over the summer.
“The goal is to offer the Longmont community a free, accessible, enriching and fun program of events that help families and youth stay connected to community, entertained and learning this summer,” Studholme said.
Studholme estimated around 300 people turned up for Friday’s event.“I was not expecting people to be all lined up,” Studholme said.
The first 100 children who arrived got free ice cream from Sweet Cow, which sent a “Moo-mobile” to the event.
Due to the COVID pandemic, the library noticed a downturn in participation with only 800 participants in the Summer Reading Program last year. This year they decided to engage the community with a party to start the summer reading program.
“We wanted to celebrate the beginning of summer with a fun gathering and offer an opportunity for the community to come together and learn about the Summer Reading Program and events. We thought it would be a great way to get the word out and offer a fun and free event for families,” Studholme said.
In 2019, the program had over 3,000 participants. This year, Studholme hopes to have 2,000 children sign up for the program.
This year Studholme and her coworkers noticed an increase in checking out new library cards. They believe that a lot of new families have begun to move to the area. Studholme believes that events like the Summer Reading Kickoff party help to acclimate them to the area and engage with the community.
Desiree declined to give her last name, a mother and new to the Longmont area, decided to put her child in the summer reading program because she had happy memories of her own experience at her hometown library and thought it would be a good and fun opportunity for her son to continue reading.
“The library here is great, the librarians are wonderful, it's been a good experience. We like coming here, it's a great place to come with your kid,” Desiree said.
