Zach Stier, Ronda Kelley and Tammy Troup Librarians at the Ericson Public Library, May 29th, 2026

We're going to be talking about the Ericsson Public Library and all the things that you could possibly imagine coming up during the month of June. Summer reading program, I guess. Big thing. We have Mr. Z here. Hi. Good morning. And Tammy. Tammy's here as well. How are you doing? And on the phone we have Rhonda. Hello. Hey, everybody's here. Say hi, everybody. Hi. Hi, everybody. There we go. Okay. Okay. Here we go. Well, kind of bottom line is May is done. Yeah. June summer reading program. Yeah. Lots of stuff. And I will say again, we have 50 plus programs in June. I did actually count this time. So I'm just going to go ahead and get started here with registration. So registration did open this Tuesday. Last Monday, right? Tuesday. Tuesday after. It's past Tuesday. And so our program, of course, is open for children, teens, and adults. And we still have two options. We have our Beanstack app. So if you want to do the app version, and then there is the paper version as well. So just visit our website or come into the library and we can assist with that. And then we officially launch our program next Monday, June 1st. So next week's pretty exciting because our friend, Curious George, is coming back to Boone. We haven't had him here in for a couple of years. And so he'll be making his first appearance next Tuesday, June 2nd at 6 p.m. for our first family fun of the summer. And so, of course, you can meet George, take photos. We'll have a storytime craft and I'm going to serve bananas. All those things. You know? Yeah. Got to do that. So it's good stuff. That's Curious George. Yeah. What he's all about. Wednesday and Thursday during story times, which is at 10 a.m. and then our friends have invited him out for Nights on the Green on Friday the 5th at 5 p.m. So we're really excited for George to help kick off some of our children's programming. And then next week we are also starting to be at the farmer's market twice in June and twice in July. So next Thursday, June 4th, I will be out there and we'll have a spot. We'll have some activities. Just kind of see how things go. So we're really appreciative over them partnering with us and allowing us to be there as well. So and then June 8th, June 8th is a big day because that's our carnival kickoff. We're always excited for that. It is on June 8th, which is the second Monday this year, not the first. And we're actually pretty pleased with that. Some kids are not out until next Tuesday, so we want to give time for them to transition to summer. So as in years past, we block off two streets in our alley and though there will be 30, 40 plus different organizations providing activities, we have some new friends joining us and pretty excited because we have the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. They actually have a learning trailer. We haven't had them here before, so they're going to be rolling on up with that. And so come on out, it's four to seven on the eighth, of course, all free and help us again just continue to launch our summer program. And then- I did ask the fireman. They're planning. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, very much. We appreciate them. Yeah. So that week's pretty exciting too because on June 10th, which is on a Wednesday, our friend Mike Hammond, who is a co-owner at Dutch Heaven Bakery, I invited him to be a guest reader. There's a really cool new book about a bear and a donut and I was like, oh, this is perfect. So- We've got to get him in there. Yeah. And it's nature. And Planet Seed Read is our theme this year. So I was like, oh, this would be perfect. So and I'm pretty excited for our story time programs. You know, of course, Mr. Z is great. I'm talking in third person now. Yeah. We do have some guest friends like Mike and then Farmer Matt. Farmer Matt is the husband of Brooke, who works at Iowa State Extension, an outreach. And so he's obviously a farmer and he's going to come on out and do a story time on the 17th. But he's also going to bring his tractor along too. So we're really excited about that. And then our friends at Iowa Corn, who usually come during the carnival, we actually asked that they would come just for their own program. So that's on June 18th. They'll bring their corn trailer, which has been pretty popular in the past as well. And then we'll finish off the month of story time with the theme of worms. So I'm pretty excited about the, go from donuts to worms. What is it? Don't eat the worms. Oh, there we go. There we go. Eat the worms. And then, of course, you know, I have to throw in a science program. So on June 11th, summer science in the garden, I put myself outside this time in the event there's bad weather, we'll be inside, but come on out for that, it'll be a lot of fun. And then we'll have our music and movement on June 12th, as well as June 26th. And then on June 16th, we have our friends from Iowa Family Exotics coming. They were popular last year. They brought snakes, turtles, and I promise nothing will, somebody asked if they would be in the rafters. I'm like, no, we're going to make sure everybody's safe and those snakes will be falling from the ceiling on that too. So a lot of stuff going on for that, obviously the month of June for kids. And my friends here are also going to talk about, you know, young adult and adult programs. So please, you know, visit our website or get a calendar because there's so much more. Or go to the website, go to the website calendar, live on that calendar, or hook up on Facebook because you do the notifications, like I get what, three, four a day about different events, different things coming up. A lot of stuff. Like we got yoga this morning, don't we, Rhonda? Yes, we do. Yes, we do. Wednesdays and Fridays at 10 a.m. we stream it, so you can register on our website calendar if you're ever interested in doing that with us. What kind of programs you got planned for? Okay. Yeah, we got lots of stuff. We also have a very special, special guest to kick off our Saturday Storytimes this summer. Saturday, June the 6th at 10 a.m. Bell from Beauty and the Beast will be here to join us for Storytime. And of course, after Storytime, there's photo ops. And if there's enough time, she'll usually hang out with the kids for a little while and enjoy some games and coloring, and we'll also have a movie going and the popcorn, so it'll be a lot of fun. And we have two opportunities for virtual author live Zoom chats. And that is through the State Library, so we thank them for doing that. June the 9th is the kids' virtual author visit. And then the tween and teen virtual author is on June 24th. And those times are available on our website calendar. No registrations required, just come on in, we'll have a snack as well. And if you have any questions for the author, you can submit it ahead of time. You can just email me or call me or come see me at the library. Or during the live Zoom chat, we can put your question in. And the authors are usually pretty good about answering them. So that's really fun for the kids to have that interaction with, you know, an author that maybe they've enjoyed the story from. So that is wonderful, we're excited about that. And then we have some fun gaming opportunities and some crafting opportunities. June the 10th, which is a Wednesday, we have a Nancy Drew mystery game. So you can register up to four people per gaming session and come and play this new game. And this also coincides with our library anniversary because we are highlighting books from 1926 to 1951 for the month of June. So Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys were popular during that time period. So we'll be highlighting some of those books and also this fun game. And it's a neat game, it actually looks very retro, it looks very 50s. So it's kind of fun, so. Tammy's already laughing at you. I love stuff like that, I really get into that kind of stuff. I'm excited to try out this new game as well. And it will be available at the library afterwards as part of our board game collection. So feel free to stop by any time and ask to play that game. So it's just nice that it goes along with, you know, it has a literary base to it as well. I grew up loving Nancy Drew, so. And then the very next day, which is a Thursday, June 11th, for tweens and teens we have, it's called Forever Plants. So it's these little mini plant holder, and then they make plants with beads. So that's why they're called Forever Plants, because you don't have to worry about watering them, you can't kill them like I normally do. Plant don't seem to like me very much, but these plants do, so come on out and have a fun crafting afternoon, all supplies will be provided while they last, of course. And then our stitching group, you know, gets together already twice a month, but in June there is a national knit in public day. So we usually try to celebrate that here at the library with our stitching group, so that will be Saturday, June 13th at 10 a.m. and we will congregate in the library garden, so feel free to bring, you know, a portable chair with you, a blanket, some people bring picnics. You can provide some refreshments, but feel free to bring some snacks with you. Hopefully we will not have to move it indoors, because the whole point is being outside. We did have to do that one year, the weather did not cooperate, but hopefully the weather will be great and we'll be able to be outside. However, if the weather is not good, we will move that inside if we have to. But if you do any kind of fiber art, even though it's called, you know, worldwide knit in public day, if you crochet, embroider, cross stitch, any of those things, come and join us. Okay. So, and then I think, I think Zach might have mentioned the movie Matt and Nath, but we have two of those. The first one is Monday, June the 15th, which is more like a family-based movie, and then at the end of the month, it's more tween and teen, June 29th at 2 p.m. I will say it's based on a video game about crafting and mining, so we'll just leave that there. Very, very coy how you did that. Yeah, right? Yeah. Yeah, let's go on that out there. We are doing, to go along with the plant seed read theme, continuing that on, we're doing a teacup fairy garden for tweens and teens, Wednesday, June 17th, again, all supplies provided while they last, but that's at 2 p.m. No registration required, just come on out and enjoy creating a little teacup fairy garden, and thank you for those who are wonderful patrons and the community of Boone who donated teacups for that. We really appreciate that, so they actually get a real porcelain teacup to build their fairy garden in, so that's really nice. Shout out to the Daily Boss, who is one of our new businesses in town that have given us an incentive to offer our patrons this summer, and then we will be moving our coffee and books, book discussion to the Daily Boss starting in June, that is Saturday, June the 20th, books for that book club will be available to pick up starting next week at the library, and we're excited to move it over there, and we'll be at the Daily Boss through the end of December, so for the rest of the year, that's where we'll be, but also want to shout out to Befit, who has hosted our book club since January, we've really appreciated being in their space, they've been fabulous, so we're just going to kind of move it around to different small businesses in town and share the love, that's what we like to do. Two last bigger programs I want to mention, Tuesday, June the 23rd, we are having a Mad Hatter, Alice in Wonderland theme tea party out in the library garden, open for all ages, there will be some snacks, refreshments and nibbles, free will donation that will go towards the friends of the Ericsson library, but it is free to attend, there will be outdoor games, we'll have music playing, all kinds of fun, wimsical, Alice in Wonderland theme things going on, and costumes are highly encouraged, so please if you feel like you want to dress up, this is a great opportunity to do that and have a lot of fun. And very last, end of June, June 30th, which is the following Tuesday after the Mad Hatter tea party, also outdoors will be a foam party, so we've been wanting to have that at the library for quite a while, I actually had that scheduled in the summer of 2020 and we all know what happened that summer, so we're finally getting the foam party to come to the library and the people that are bringing it in are so much fun, there will also be DJ music playing, so it's just going to be a great time, so make sure you wear something that you don't mind, you know, getting wet in, and yeah, just come on out and enjoy. Alright, foam party on the 30th. Yeah, yeah, exciting stuff. Tammy, what do you got going for adults, because I mean, Summer Reading Program includes everybody, adults of all ages, or kids of all ages, I shouldn't say, right, including adults. Yeah, so Zach had mentioned that folks can stop in the library and pick up a paper reading log or use the Beanstack application to log the books that they've read and the activities that they've done, so there's the two options and both offer the same incentives and in both options, folks will be entered into both sets of, or all sets of raffles, there's several different types of raffles. So we have that going on and I definitely encourage adults to register for the Summer Reading Program too and, you know, just get going with that. And we're continuing our Journaling Place series and we've got two events in June that I'm really looking forward to and once again, it was the Leonard Good Trust and our friends of our library that provided funding for these just amazing lectures to come to our community and talk about local history and just, you know, recognizing our place. So the first is June 11th and Dr. Pamela Rainey Kerberg from Iowa State University, she's a historian, she's going to be talking about basically a calming of age in rural Iowa and she actually went through memoirs and diaries and just first-hand accounts written by children and so she has this perspective about life on the farm drawn from these first-hand accounts and experiences of rural Iowa children, which is kind of cool. And then the second event is Saturday, June 27th and poet Tara Labovic will be in the library's prairie garden and they'll be talking about just how important labels and naming things are for just cementing memories and remembering place and getting to no place. So I'm just really looking forward to those experiences. And then we have a number of, you know, kind of health and human services types of events in the month of June. So McKenna Neemeyer with the Boone County Hospital, she'll be continuing another six-week grief support group, which is on Tuesdays at 2 p.m. and that's going to continue through June 30th and we have representatives from Access and The Bridge and then we also have Boone County aging together, so that's the new name for the, it was previously called the Boone Senior Group where it was basically support providers who would get together and network and talk about just all the incredible services that are here in the community, which is so important for, you know, those professionals to talk to each other because there are services out there that, you know, as a librarian, weren't even on my radar, so, you know, like caption calls. We had Carrie with caption call there at the beginning of May and that's a service that is federally funded and it provides a transcription of phone calls. So, you know, our seniors don't have to struggle to hear on the phone. They can use this service and have these devices in their homes to enable them to interact on the phone much more easily and let's see, so we also have a specialist from community and family resources who will be leading a four-part workshop about substance misuse and how to respond appropriately as a community, which is, you know, always so important. And we have a number of different craft classes. We are recognizing that, you know, 1926 to 1951 period with an art deco felt applique and embroidery bookmark craft and then a florals and watercolor study kind of class and then we've got a couple drop-in classes that are open to, you know, basically all ages. They're pretty low-key. And then we have our book clubs, of course, so June 8th that we're going to meet for the last time at the brewery downtown, which were sad to leave that space. And then we'll be announcing the new location and talking about those changes. And on June 16th, the adult book discussion will join a virtual author talk with the writer Alan Eskins, who wrote the book, The Quiet Librarian, which is the state, all Iowa reads book. And then the regular book discussion is going to follow that author talk. And we've got a tech classes and a repair clinic. There's just so much going on. Busy time. I did want to ask because you did have, from Northern Iowa, was it Mason? Oh yeah, Kevin Mason's talk last month. Did we have a decent turnout for that? Again, talking about Dragoon, the Dragoon Trail. We did, we did. So Kevin Mason's book, Retracing the Dragoon Trail, he kind of used that as a literary device. I was, like, all ready to hear, you know, about how he wrote, or, you know, his reflections on the trail as he wrote. But that's more in his blog, Notes on Iowa. But he used that, the trail idea, and it shows up, basically, to talk about the environmental history of the state. So it's a really important book for, you know, just really understanding, you know, how the environment has been changed, and the human impact on the environment here in Iowa. And we had an excellent turnout for that. I think there were over 40 people at that talk. And then the following week after that, at the Boone History Center, we had Charles Irwin talk. And there were, you know, again, over 40 people at that event, too. And you're trying to teach him to journal. Because part of it was journaling and publishing. Right, right. Yeah, yeah. And I mean, the big thing is just, you know, I don't care if people journal or sketch or write their grocery lists in these journals. You know, the big thing is just being present and being here in Boone, and just getting to know our community a little bit better, and, you know, we're passing out these journals as a way to, you know, just get folks to reflect on their place and be present here. Use it as you see. Exactly, exactly. All right, things are, I think I got a lot of things going on. Like I said, the website, and you guys, what, is some work being done to do updates on the website as well? Yeah, yeah. Well, the calendar won't change necessarily, but we're aligning with some changes in ADA standards, so there will be some changes coming down the pike, and, you know, we're looking forward to those changes to our website, and then that user experience in the online environment. Is it too late to get a library card? It is never too late to get a library card. You could come in at two minutes before we close, and we will set you up with a library card. You need a library card, too. I do appreciate you guys taking time to get us updated. Everything that's coming up, good busy time. Time out to the carnival, everybody, and remember, summer reading program is not just for kids. It is not. It is for everyone, and what is it, what's the theme again? Plant a seed, read. Plant a seed, read. Yes. All right. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks so much for having us. Thank you, Rhonda. Thank you.