Saturday, July 27, 2024
SPRINGTOWN — After a visit to the Springtown Public Library, 5-year-old Addison and 3-year-old Avery rallied together to convince their mother, Katie Juvette, to take them to the library’s first summer activity of the season — rock painting.
“We were in the library yesterday, and they heard about it, so they begged for me to come,” Juvette said.
As her daughters finished painting their rocks, Juvette indicated she made the right choice.
“They enjoyed it,” she said, adding that she and her girls may be back for the library’s other events depending on their schedules.
Rock painting is a classic activity at the Springtown Public Library that both kicks off the children’s summer events calendar and ends it on the last day of July. In between now and then, the library staff will alternate between showing movies and leading craft activities, including tie-dying, frisbee decorating and planting flowers. All the events will take place at 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays at the library, with crafts usually being done outside in the lot behind the building.
Juvette and her kids were far from the only family at rock painting June 5. Children and their guardians lined up behind the library to grab a rock, paints and a brush and get busy crafting. Parents interviewed by The Tri-County Reporter were eager to provide their kids with a summer activity, and some said they intend to return to the library throughout the summer.
“This is our first year here,” said Camila White, who brought her kids Perrin, Ayana and Brenna to rock painting last week. “We used to live in Benbrook, so I'm trying to bring them more for activities here because we were involved in a lot of activities in Benbrook, so I want to do the same thing here.”
While doing crafts and watching movies doesn’t have much to do with reading, hosting the activities is a way to entice more people into the aisles of the library.
“We're actually going to go check out some more books after we get done,” said Keisha Wash, who attended the rock painting event with her daughters Journey and Laniya last week.
The craft seemed to be made for 10-year-old Emmerie Tapia and her 9-year-old sister Elizabeth. Emmerie splattered different colors of paint on her rock and then used an apron to smudge it. Her rock was topped off with her nickname in black and white paint. Elizabeth also did well with her rocks; one was decorated with an abstract design and the other was painted to resemble a happy ladybug.
Emmerie let it be known that she is an artist and has created many paintings.
“One of them got first place in the art show,” she said, referring to TEAM, the state’s art contest for elementary-aged kids. She mentioned that Elizabeth also won an award through TEAM.
Emmerie and Elizabeth’s mother Blanca Tapia said the family recently moved to Springtown and hadn’t done the rock painting activity at the library before. Tapia said they wanted to visit the library last summer but couldn’t because the library was closed for months due to a flood. At the time, Tapia was concerned the library would be closed for good, which she witnessed before in Sansom Park. She was glad this wasn’t the case in Springtown.
“I would be very sad if it happened here,” Tapia said.
The library is also important to Bethany Harner, a 17-year-old who volunteered during the rock painting activity as well as during story times on Fridays. Harner is homeschooled, and she uses her service at the library as an outlet for social activity.
“I started volunteering because I like the library, and I do good with kids,” she said.
Springtown Public Library Director Andie D’Avignon confirmed that Harner has been serving at the library since last July and said, “She has been a joy of a volunteer!”
“She is such a sweet girl, and the kids at story time absolutely adore her,” D’Avignon said.
Harner likes being able to help provide children with a good time — even acting as a horse for kids to ride following stories on Fridays — and the rock painting event was no exception.
“It's always nice to see kids having fun,” she said.
For more information about the library’s summer event schedule, visit Springtown Public Library on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SpringtownPublicLibrary.
