Yesterday’s Lady aka Sue McClain from Beatrice, NE presented Victorian Christmas. Sue brought a sample of her collection to our library which included dresses and traveling clothes from that time period, a German tabletop Christmas tree made from feathers, period postcards and more! Sue gave a historical background to the Christmas traditions we see today. This presentation was made possible by the Humanities NE, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment and in memory of Cal Robinson.
Furnas County Extension Educator, Elena Stout, led the fall session of Mad Science Mondays at our library. Each week, Elena presented a new concept for the group of elementary students. The children get involved with hands-on experiments. Shown above, the group is exploring bio-plastic by using corn based products to create “plastic.” Mad Science Mondays will return in March.
The library is happy to report that our Lego Club is bursting at the seams! We’ve split our club into three groups to make the club enjoyable for all. The Lego bricks are provided in part by our Friends of the Library and we now own a large selection of bases and different colors. The snacks for this program have been generously provided by our community. The kids provide their imaginations! Their creations are put on display, come check them out!
Lego Club also made its return after taking an extended break since March 2020. We were thrilled to have over 60 children in the building! The Lego bricks are part of the library’s collection. Our Friends of the Library group donated to the major purchase of the bricks to get this program started in 2015. When the children arrive they receive a snack and then let their imaginations take over as they free play. Pictured above is a great example of how well the new library design is working. While we had a large group of children playing in the new community room, others were able to find a quiet spot on the other side of the building to work on homework.
After nineteen months, our school visits started again! Every month during the school year, the Arapahoe Public School transports children from grades Kindergarten-8th grade to our library. The younger students are read a story, and every child gets to check out a library book! We are thrilled to carry on this long-standing tradition with our local public school. It was wonderful to see their reactions as they walked into the newly renovated space. Welcome back, kids!
On August 7, 2021 the library celebrated its official ribbon cutting ceremony! Benita Adams (President of the Library Board) welcomed Mayor John E Koller as he gave his congratulations on behalf of the City of Arapahoe. Visitors to the open house enjoyed a slide show presentation of the project from start to finish, and gathered inside the newly renovated building for tours. The library staff are excited to see the doors officially opened to everyone in the community and look forward to serving their community in this new space.
Our Summer Reading Program in-person events ended with wagon rides around town! Trudy and Queeny took groups of our summer readers down main street, around the park and back to the library. The kids got a chance to ride in a wagon, just like being in a parade. They learned about voice commands, Gee or Haw. It was a fun day and these two girls hauled a lot of children that day!
Our neighbors from across the parking lot stopped by for a visit to see the renovated building. The residents of the Good Samaritan Homes of Arapahoe have been watching all of the progress from demolition to new construction for the past several months. It was fun to welcome them inside of the building after the pandemic. Here, some of the residents are getting a peek at the new community room.
Our friend from South Dakota, Jerome Kills Small, visited us as a part of our summer reading program. Jerome shared tales of his past and sang a blessing for our new building. He asked the ancestors for permission to be here in this location. He taught us the importance of prayer and storytelling to keep us connected.
The Hillbilly Scientists were our very first program in our new community room! The design of our new space has worked perfectly for the kick-off of our Summer Reading Program. The kids enjoyed some silly science and it was great to hear their laughter! We had not had any in-person programming for 15 months due to Covid-19 and our move into a smaller location while we awaited the completion of our renovation. Our last program had been in March of 2020. We had our weekly Lego Club scheduled the week of St. Patrick’s Day of 2020, but had to immediately bring things to a halt with the international health crisis that affected us all. We’re so happy to be in this new space!
