By June Norvila
This year lots of kids are taking advantage of the Summer Reading Program offered at the Bentley Municipal Library. The program is geared for children five-years old and up.
The first day, Wednesday, July 16, there were 35 kids involved - a nice number. The second week, Wednesday, July 23, numbers of kids ballooned to 50 who participated - almost too many for organizers to handle with the number of adult supervisors on hand.
With more participation comes increased awareness of the library, more used book sales, more books going out, more renewed memberships, and more new memberships being sold.
The theme this year is, Laugh Out Loud. The program kicked off with Christmas In July, followed by Kooky Canadians, and Clown School! on July 30.
It will feature Ridiculous Rodeo! on August 6, Laughter Is The Best Medicine! on August 13, and wind up with Silly Songs and Rhymes on Wednesday, August 20.
The Bentley program runs from 12:45 to 3:00 p.m. and starts off each day with things to keep kids busy, followed by story and joke time, and leads up to crafts and games.
Each time the program starts off in the historic Bentley Community Hall and ends with the group walking a short half block down to the local library where they can pick out books. The fee is $2 per child and pre-registration is preferred so enough craft supplies can be purchased, but drop-ins are accepted.
There are about six junior librarians and some other adult volunteers with the staff. More adult volunteer supervisors could be used, especially if the number of youth participants remain so high.
Call (403) 748-4625 to volunteer your time to help, to pre-register your child/children, or for more information about the Bentley Municipal Library.
Pancakes with music for 2008 Bentley fair
The Bentley Riding Club has just confirmed another added feature to this year’s Bentley Fair and Rodeo.
They have booked the old-time western, Bill Kember Band from the Caroline area to play music from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. during the pancake breakfast they serve up for sale on Friday, August 8. They also do up a pancake breakfast on Saturday, August 9.
The Blindman Valley 4-H Beef Club does the flapjack flipping on the morning of Thursday, August 7, so there are pancake breakfasts offered for sale the first three days of the Bentley Fair and Rodeo.
All the Bentley fair/rodeo pancake breakfasts run from 7 to 10 a.m. at the main street down town municipal office parking lot.