By Jon Haupt
The community is settling itself back into the regular Healdsburg Library building on Piper Street. Patron visits were immediately very high after our reopening in late June, as the library received over 10,000 visitors during the month of July.
Opening in the middle of Summer Reading was challenging, but rewarding, as we hosted exuberant crowds for special events with animals, magic shows and—of course—our End of Summer Party featuring ice cream, local musician Ryan Woodard and many other fun activities.
Now that summer is winding down and schools have opened again for the fall, our typical programming is available for everyone. Storytimes with Miss Charity have begun; upcoming events include a Storytime in the Park on Sept. 26 as well as in the library on Oct. 3, 17 and 24, leading up to a special Oct. 31 event at the park. All of these occur on Fridays at 10:30am.
The library has programming for school-aged children and tweens on Mondays this year. Coming up, we have Universal Yums on Sept. 29 and “Cemetariums” (spooky terrariums) on Oct. 6, both Tween Hangouts. On Oct. 13, we offer our inaugural Cocoa Read-Aloud Book Club for children in kindergarten through third grade. All of these events are scheduled for 3:30pm on Mondays.
Coordinating with Healdsburg schools’ early release days, the library will present programming for local teens on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Every Tuesday at 1:45pm our Teen Librarian, Stephanie, offers an activity for middle school students; the same is true for high schoolers on Wednesdays starting at 2:45pm. In addition, we continue to provide in-person Homework Help for K-12 students every Tuesday from 3:30-5:30pm when school is in session, with volunteer tutors on hand.
Programming for adults is also well underway at the library. Coming up in October and November, we are hosting free immigration-related events for anyone, with a seven-week citizenship class in Spanish starting on Sept. 24 (interested parties can register online on our events calendar or call the library at (707) 433-3772) and an Immigration Fair Sunday, Oct. 12 from 1:30–3:30pm.
In addition to the immigration-related events, we have plenty of other fun and engaging opportunities for adults, such as a performance of the Gravenstein Mandolin Ensemble from 11am to noon on Saturday, Sept. 27, as well as two events on Saturday, Oct. 4—”Composting with Worms” presented by UC Master Gardeners from 10:30am to noon as well as a cooking demonstration by Chef Rogelio Garcia, a James Beard Award recipient and cookbook author, from 2–3pm.
Anyone interested in finding out more about any or all of these upcoming events is encouraged to seek out our events calendar at sonomalibrary.org, call the library at (707) 433-3772 or walk in and speak with a librarian. We appreciate our community support and look forward to seeing all of our patrons soon, at one of our many free programs or simply because community members are looking for something good to read.
Jon Haupt is the branch manager of Healdsburg Regional Library, again located at 139 Piper St. and open daily.
