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GRAND FORKS — For many, a love of literature was formed by wandering towering shelves filled with endless worlds of possibility, untethered by childhood minds.
And for some, this love would not have been possible without their local public library. At the Grand Forks Public Library, Angie Laxdal said summer programs are helping keep that love alive.
Laxdal said the 2022 Summer Reading Program, "Oceans of Possibilities," is free and open to all ages.” The goal of the program is “to read one million minutes this summer” and so far, “we have read 227,000 minutes and counting.”
While registration for the program opened June 1, it’s not too late to sign up, since it runs through July 31.
Laxdal is not sure of the year the Summer Reading Program began, but said the library “has a long tradition of offering a robust Summer Reading Program.”
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She said the program for children “was very popular in the 1980s and 90s and has continued to grow through the years.” The library has also expanded the program to include all ages in recent years.
The library offers a variety of other programs open to the public throughout the summer, including:
- Regular storytimes (Monday through Thursday at 10 a.m.).
- Monthly Take & Make art kits, Pokémon Walking Club, Garden Club, Tween Tuesdays (every Tuesday in July).
- Teen Thursdays (every Thursday in July).
- Drop in & game (Mondays).
- Drop-in LEGO (Wednesdays).
- Drop-in chess (certain Sundays).
- Weekly programs on Thursdays for children (2 p.m.) and teens & adults (5 p.m.).
- And a Grand Finale Celebration taking place from 2 to 4 p.m. on Aug. 4.
“Grand Forks Public Library’s mission is to connect the community, inspire innovation and encourage curiosity,” Laxdal said.
The library has worked to serve this mission for the past 122 years. She said the library can often act as a “playground for curious minds, helping people to discover dreams, grow ideas, and change lives.”
“Libraries are often a child’s first introduction to literacy experiences outside the home," Laxdal said. "From the earliest days of Baby Storytime and checking out board books to take home, the library is a place of adventure, learning, growing, and exploring for curious little minds. Grand Forks Public Library is proud to offer programming that helps spark this love of learning from a young age.”
The author of this piece, Gabrielle Linder, is a freelance reporter whose work occasionally appears in the Grand Forks Herald.
