By Carrie McLendon

Tupper Lightfoot Memorial Library in Brundidge is preparing to kick off this year’s summer reading program, Color Our World.

The reading program is open to all kids aged 3-18 in all grade levels. This summer, the program will run from June 1 to July 18 and will kick off with a Messtival on Friday, May 30 at 2 p.m.

The Messtival will be an event encouraging kids to have fun and get messy with various games and activities such as a chalk walk, slime station, and an army crawl. At this event, participating families will also receive all of their information for the program.

Throughout the summer, the library will offer community programs and group reading sessions as a part of summer reading. Each Thursday, at 2 p.m. unless otherwise posted, different entertainers will perform at the Brundidge Station. 

With this summer reading program, Tupper Lightfoot is looking to bridge the gap between the school years by helping children maintain their skills with fun and interactive activities.

“(The purpose) is so that they don’t take a break from reading, they just continue to read until school starts back because a lot of our kids are students,” said Garneshia Lampley, Children and Teen Services Coordinator of Tupper Lightfoot Memorial Library. “(We hope that students) take away a love for reading, a love for literacy and this year’s theme is Color Our World, so a love for art as well.”

Participating children will log their reading throughout the summer and compete for various prizes and awards. At the end of the program, there will be an awards ceremony. This is done to give incentive and encouragement to participating readers and to promote continuous reading.

“Our program has winners in three groups. We have a winner for our family readers, early readers and independent readers for most minutes and books read,” said Lampley

To close out the program, the library will hold Splash Day on Friday, July 18 at 2 p.m.

The library is also looking for support from the community in the form of donations and volunteers. A summer reading wish list for donations can be found on the library’s website as well as their Facebook page.

“Volunteers are always needed in the library, throughout the year, and especially during the summer,” said Lampley. “Summer is our busiest time, but check on us throughout the year.”

For the full calendar of events and other information, as well as how to register for the Color Our World Summer Reading Program, visit tupperlightfootbrundidgelib.org.