By Pamela West-Finkle
First I would like to say a big thank you to our Garden Tour committee and all of our wonderful garden owners who made our 2021 Views and Vistas Garden Tour a huge success. It was a beautiful day and we
made over $2,000 to benefit the library. Thank you also to Debra Abbate who had beautiful baked goods available for donation. A great time was had by all! Now, an update on my little accident for those who are curious. I used to have a magnet in my refrigerator that said “We plan, God laughs.” That motto became a painful reality for me when I slipped and fell getting ready to perform for a packed house of children
and their families on July 2nd. As many of you have heard, I broke my shoulder in three places and at this point am waiting for an MRI to determine if I have torn my bicep tendon.
As you can imagine, I was devastated. I had seven weeks of community and youth programs planned only to have to cancel most of my musical events. Thankfully, however, we have had some wonderful helpers here at the library who have kept programs and services running.
Laurie McIntosh and Laura Josepher have stepped in to teach our summer reading program Tales and Tails workshops. Our Friday Librarian Tami Jaegel had taken on some extra hours and out board members and volunteers have filled in when necessary.

Although I had to cancel the in person family music classes on Saturday mornings and postponed the Thursday guitar lessons, we still held our Saturday 11 am events throughout July. Laurie McIntosh gave a great performance while families enjoyed ice cream in the park; the WIDE and Wonderful World Disability Independence Day celebration featured a dance presentation by Ava McIntosh and
readings from our three book giveaway selections; and David Wasik was on hand to create and illustrate
mini books.
There is still time to submit an entry to the Tales and Tails fable/folk tale writing contest. Entries will be
shared at the Community Party on Saturday, August 14th from 1-5 pm. Bring a blanket or lawn chairs and
join us for an afternoon of tasty treats, fellowship with friends old and new, and music provided by friends of the library. We will also be having a DVD sale and will have some books on hand for sale as well.
Our annual report to the community and fundraising appeal letter went out in mid July. If you are not able to make it to the community party, we hope that you will consider making a tax deductible contribution to help us sustain our services and programs. Your generous donations are also used to match local foundation
grants.
Thanks to our O’Connor Youth grants, we were able to provide our summer programs and assemble the Song and Story take home kits forages 2-10. If your child has not received one, stop by the library and ask to pick one out. They contain egg shakers, jingle bells, rhythm sticks, finger puppets, dancing scarves, a coloring book, a notebook, crayons, activity book, and parent literacy information. I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer and I hope to be back at work soon.~