SUMMER FUN AT THE ANDES LIBRARY
By Pamela West-Finkle
Introducing Langston Comer!
Each year, we try to get an extra set of hands in the library through CDO Workforce’s Youth Employment Program. This year’s library helper is fourteen-year-old Langston Comer from South Kortright. He has been a great help in the library and has shown to be an excellent worker.
Langston participates in band, soccer, and track and has been a member of student council. He will be in the 9th grade at South Kortright Central School in the fall. This is his first job and he likes books, so he thought working at the library would be interesting. He has most recently read both Rick Riordan’s book series and the Harry Potter series, and he took an interest in the Dune series after starting work.
His favorite subject in school is art (his mother, Solveig Comer, is an art teacher at Downsville Central School and owner of Most Precious Pottery), and in his spare time he reads books and plays video games—especially those he can play online with his friends. His favorite thing to do at the library so far has been helping to create the artwork on our new sidewalk signs and hunting for items to send to other libraries for hold requests. Thank you, Langston, for being a great help at the library this summer!
August Events:
AUGUST IN BLOOM GARDEN TOUR
August 6th, Saturday the library is holding its annual garden tour. This year’s theme is “August in Bloom.” All of our host gardeners have been busy at work to create an amazing experience for you! The tour will take place from 11 am to 4 pm. I’ve been told it’s hard to get all of the gardens in during even that amount of time, so plan ahead. We also ask that you leave the pets at home as they will not be allowed to participate.
Maps will be available for $15 each at the library, located at 242 Main Street, starting at 10 am the morning of the tour. Children attend for free. Each map will have a full address and description of gardens on the back of the map, and each property is marked with a flower stake. Our proud gardeners will be eagerly awaiting your arrival to show off their beautiful properties.
Thanks so much to our garden committee, Joanne Warner (chair), Buffy Calvert, Vincent Lopez and Judy Garrison for all of your hard work and dedication.
Community Day – Arm-of-the-Sea Theater Performance at Andes Central School
There will be lots of wonderful community activities on Andes Community Day this year, Saturday, August 13th. The parade will kick off after the Trailways bus goes through (10:20?) and visitors can roam throughout our lovely mountain town, sampling wares and visiting shops. We hope that you will stop by the library for our book, DVD, and audio book sale. Kids books are free! If you don’t have a library card, please stop by to register for the Four County Library System.
At 2 pm, there will be a free family performance of “Dirt” by the Arm-of-the-Sea Theater, held at the Andes Central School Auditorium/Gym. Baked goods and refreshments will be available for donation to the library. This event is sponsored by the library and is made possible with a Library Fund Grant from the Community Foundation of South Central New York.
If you’ve never seen this life-sized puppet theater company perform, I can tell you that they are mesmerizing. The puppets, stories, and music are so creative and engaging for people of all ages, some of them up to twelve feet tall, and live musicians accompany the story. It is a special treat for us to bring them to Andes, and we hope you will bring the whole clan to see this wonderful performance.
Monday Early Childhood Caregiver/Child Music Classes
I will continue to provide a 10 am summer music class for caregivers and children on the first two Mondays in August. I will be taking a break until mid-September when we will begin registration for a formal ten week Music Together class sponsored by The Community Music Network.
Summer Reading Program “Oceans of Possibilities”
We had so much fun in July providing our Wednesday workshops. Bobby Curious had the kids rocking and rolling (literally) in the park at our Beach Party on July 6th; Betty Boomer brought a host of creatures from her favorite local ponds for the children to observe with magnifying glasses and scientific method; Dr. Robert Titus and his wife Johanna came on July 20th to give a presentation of the Catskill Sea, Devonian era complete with a variety of fossils for the group to touch and feel; and finally Library Director Pam West-Finkle performed for Story Laurie’s Seven Seas to close out our month of youth programs. These programs were made possible with a Youth Grant from the A. Lindsay and Olive B. O’Connor Foundation. Thanks to Tami Jaegel for coming in to help out at the desk, and to the CROP staff and Andes Central School for making the library an important part of their summer program.
Thank You for Your Support During Our Annual Fund Drive & Volunteers Needed!
We recently sent out our annual report to the community with an appeal for donations. If you did not receive a letter and would like to be put on our mailing list, please send us an email to an.ill@4cls.org or call at 845-676-3333. Donations from our community make up at least one fourth to one third of our annual operating budget, and we are happy to offer our community a beautiful library with top notch services. For those who use our library regularly, we provide hundreds of dollars in entertainment and information for free per year. We hope that you will consider making the Andes Public Library part of your annual giving. We thank you for your generosity and support!
If you would prefer to offer your volunteer hours to the library, we are currently in need of volunteers to be trained to man the library for two hours on Saturday mornings, as well as provide vacation and sick day coverage for staff. Please contact me to schedule a time to do a 90 minute training with me, usually on a Tuesday or Thursday afternoon.
Speaking of volunteers, I cannot close out this month’s library notes without saying goodbye to one of our most dedicated volunteers, Mr. Bob Murphy. Bob is leaving the area in the Fall and we will miss him greatly! Of all of our patrons, I would consider him one of the most well-read, fair minded individuals I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I will miss the intellectual and often sarcastic conversations. Thank you, Bob, for your many years of service to our library!~