St. Charles Parish Library will host summer kickoff parties Monday, June 1 at all six of its branches. The parties represent the beginning of the library’s summer reading program. This year’s theme is “Plant a Seed, Read.”
Lauren Campo Pitz, assistant director of the library, said attending a kickoff party is a free, low-stress way to start summer vacation.
“It’s a fun experience, and it also reinforces the importance of keeping reading skills strong during the summer,” Pitz said.
The summer reading program is for all ages. Residents can register online at myscpl.beanstack.com or at the library. At the kickoff parties, participants can pick up their sign-up prize, yard sign and collectible branch brag tags.
“Each branch has its own brag tag design, and a lot of people like to try to collect all of them, so make sure you get one at each library location this summer,” Pitz said.
Each branch will feature unique games and activities at the kickoff events.
“The activities will be different at each branch, so you could really spend the whole day driving around the parish to our six library locations and have different — but always fun and interesting — experiences at each one,” Pitz said.
Each kickoff party lasts two hours.
“We always see a lot of families visiting to pick up their summer reading materials, participate in the activities, and check out books,” Pitz said.
Each branch is decorated according to the summer reading program theme, with plant decorations and outdoor scenes.
“We go all out for summer, which you can already see by our packed calendar of events and will see when you walk into our branches next month,” Pitz said.
The reading program will feature free events from June 1 through July 3. Adults, teens and children can earn prizes by signing up for the program and tracking 360 reading minutes on the tracking program Beanstack. Prizes include keychains, tote bags, puzzles, pins and more. This year’s community reading goal is 2,750,000 minutes.
