At the library: Summer reading program celebrates 65 years

By Jolisa Weidner

This summer we will be celebrating our 65th year of summer reading. The program has been run successfully by many different women who loved the library, reading, and children. I learned from some of the best before I took over the program in 1995. My own children had attended the programs over the years.

The theme was The Sky's the Limit, and it really was for a young mom who was handed a manual, and asked to plan a summer of reading fun. I learned a lot about myself, and what was in me to create a program that would appeal to families, and keep them reading in the summer. My claim to fame that first summer, was having a helicopter from KCRG land in front of the library on East Main. I had to jump a lot of hurdles to get it done, but when the day came it was amazing to see both sides of the streets lined with all kinds of people screaming, and waving at the helicopter approaching from the north. Captain Bobby the pilot, flew circles around the square building excitement in all of us on the ground, before setting the helicopter down on the street between the library, and the Y. It was an exciting afternoon in Washington that day. My time spent planning summer reading at the library had only begun, and the 24 years following created a lifetime of amazing memories for me.

I need to thank my husband, who was a huge part in helping create some of the big displays we'd put together to decorate the library every summer. I was blessed to have many teenage volunteers over the years that I still keep in contact with to this day. I have come full circle with many families, and am now reading to another generation of kids.

This year our theme is Imagine Your Story. And what a totally different story it will be. Over the years, the kids have continued to come to the library for the same type of program that has been offered for the past 65. As Jenisa, and I REIMAGINE how to get our program off the ground this summer, the center of our focus has, and always will be, is to keep every kid reading, and having fun at their library. We are going to miss all the faces, hugs, and laughs with kids coming into the library, but we will find a way to bring summer reading to the kids we love.

Thanks to the virus, I look forward to planning this summer's program in new ways, and hope this nana will learn a little more about herself, and what is inside of her.

On behalf of the library staff, please know we miss all of our patrons so much. This summer will not be the same without all of the coming, and going of our summer reading kids, but it will be one none of us will ever forget.