Adventure Begins at Your Library!
Welcome to summer, everyone! We here at the Library have a lot of great events lined up for you all, as well as our array of great books, audiobooks, movies, games and more at your disposal. Grab a read for the beach, sign your kids (and yourself) up for the Summer Reading Club to keep the brain sharp and earn prizes along the way, see what great activities and events we’ve got cooking for you at any of our locations, or just come in and hang out in a pleasant, social and free place with air conditioning and Wifi - we’ve got you covered!
The Summer Reading Club this year reminds everyone that “Adventure Begins at Your Library!” Kids of all ages can sign up for this free summer-long program at any branch or online at www.relib.net - and everyone who does gets an activity pack and a free book to keep. The Reading Log this year is structured as a “Road Trip” - as kids reach milestones on the road such as “read outside for 30 minutes,” “read about a country you’d like to visit,” or “visit a State Park,” they can report in to the Library for cool prizes at 10, 15 and 20 milestones - and by completing the log they can be entered into a drawing for an Amazon gift card.
Some of those milestones involve joining us this summer for one of the many events we’re putting on for the community! We're kicking off the summer with a show about Radical Reptiles, and our events this year help connect our patrons with the outdoors and the world of adventure. From a session on horseback riding in Friendsville to a bird show in Kitzmiller, from a musical instrument showcase in Grantsville to a rock climbing presentation in Oakland, we’ve got lots to show off this summer - as well as the books to learn about all those and more! We’ve got a lot planned - see for yourself on our calendar of events on our website (www.relib.net) - and everything, of course, is free!
Need more for the kids to do this summer? In addition to the Summer Reading Club, don’t forget that your Library has you covered with lots more to check out! Board games, Switch video games, toy packages and our great literacy kits are all fair game to keep boredom away this summer - stop by and stock up for those lazy at-home summer days.
And we certainly don’t want our adult patrons feeling left out! The Library is also holding an Adult Summer Reading Challenge with its own grand prize drawings for those who complete eight activities in the log - stop by and sign yourself up alongside your kids and grandkids. And we’ve got plenty of activities planned for the grownups as well - great classes on mushrooming, night fauna of Garrett County, musical performances, gardening and crafts just for adults. Come on in to one, meet some new people, and enjoy some offline time!
Not only that, but we have restarted our series of community discussions on different topics. Every month we will provide a welcoming opportunity to talk about subjects concerning Garrett County - from business development to education to health care. This is a great chance to connect with real people in the real world, away from the toxicity of social media - we’d love to have you join the conversation!
Our Friendsville Library continues to progress - design is largely complete and we anticipate going out for bid on the construction end of the project soon. We’re very much looking forward to breaking ground this fall - that’s going to be an exciting milestone - and are preparing to move into temporary shared space with the wonderful folks at the Friendsville Senior Center after summer ends.
I’m also very happy to announce a new face at our Accident branch! Maya Glassman will be turning her energies towards building new connections and developing exciting new programs for our Accident community - we’re very much looking forward to seeing what she brings to Garrett County!
Finally, once again, if you want to be part of what we’re doing these days, we’re always looking for new Friends of the Library! They’re a wonderful group of volunteers that helps make our programs happen - the Summer Reading Club wouldn’t be possible without them - and they’ve got some exciting plans for the future, including a live play this fall and a new surprise for students next school year!
