By Denise Gary
Photographs © Denise Gary & Robert Gary
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Phoenix Library Friends 35th Anniversary Family Literacy Festival
Margaret T. Hance Park (next to Burton Barr Public Library)
Phoenix, Arizona
10:00 AM–2:00 PM
Come on out and join us at Margaret T. Hance Park for a free event celebrating reading and families! Saturday is going to be a beautiful day . . . knock on wood and hold the weatherman accountable! We have been stuffing backpacks for kids since last week with the help of the uber-rockin’ members of the Mesa Host Lions Club and our theory-of-relativity-defying KNTR volunteers. Our office itself was “stuffed” to overflowing with books, magazines, and backpacks, until the Phoenix Library Friends came to dig us out and fill their cargo vans with the precious treasure!
So what exactly is going on, you ask? Kids Need to Read has pitched in to help Friends of the Phoenix Public Library celebrate family literacy and their 35th anniversary. We could not pass up this FUNTASTIC opportunity to provide books and reading encouragement to the children in our community! Kids Need to Read will be giving away a FREE book; book bag; and Highlights, Cricket, or Cicada magazine to the first 2,500 kids, from itty-bitty to adolescent! Our wonderful KNTR friend, children’s author/illustrator Steven Riley (Little Ty Cooney and the Grand Canyon Tour Company), will be entertaining, as will OneBookAZ author Lynda Exley (Arizona Way Out West & Witty)—we are really looking forward to meeting Ms. Exley! We are also bringing along our awe-inspiring superhero pals from Arizona Avengers and Justice League Arizona! Wait, there’s more: Johnny “JR” Ringo, the Mad Science crew, video games, photo booth, rock wall, train, and more. To better serve families, the festival has been divided into four age-appropriate areas, including scale models of First Five Years center apparatuses for our youngest guests (aged birth to 5 years). Use your Phoenix Public Library card to enter a raffle for one of two netbooks or a Nook Tablet!
Come celebrate with Friends of the Phoenix Public Library and Kids Need to Read this Saturday at Margaret T. Hance Park! Many thanks to the generous event sponsors!
Event Producer
Friends of the Phoenix Public Library
Event Partner
Kids Need to Read
Event Sponsors
AT&T
First Things First
Helios Education Foundation
Rodel Foundation
SCF Arizona
