The Calgary Public Library’s two downtown locations, Central and Memorial Park, are being transformed for the month of December into free Winter Wonderlands.
From Dec. 9 through 31, both libraries will be holding special story times from prominent Calgary guests, free family-friendly movie showings, open mic sessions with CPL’s Indigenous Services, musicians, craft times, and of course snacks and refreshments.
The goal, said Steven Dohlman, Service Delivery Lead for Community Engagement at CPL, was to bring some surprises and delights to library patrons this winter.
“This December is going to mark our second time offering Winter Wonderland, which was something we did last year as part of our 110 together celebrations. It was so popular, we wanted to bring it back again this year,” he said.
“I think people are always looking for something to do in the winter months. We’ve been lucky with a favourable fall and early winter so far this year, but definitely, when it starts to get colder outside, it’s great for libraries to be a place that can welcome the community and have some programming and activations that are of interest to all ages.”
Dohlman said that anytime that any of the city’s libraries can do something to bring people into their locations, and to act as community hubs, they’re happy to do that.
“For Winter Wonderland, or Love Your Library Day, or Superhero Day, we always have story times as part of that core programming. Sometimes, they are led by library staff members, and other times we get special guests,” Dohlman said.
“A really important part of the library is of course literacy and putting those services front and centre. But we love getting people into our buildings to discover all the things the library has to offer once they’re here.”
Winter festivities start this Saturday
The celebrations kick off this Saturday with the annual Mayor’s Holiday Storytime at 1 p.m., with Mayor Jyoti Gondek reading a selection of stories in the main gallery of the Central Library.
“It’s certainly one of the highlights of the year, and we also have a Calgary Hitmen story time happening the following weekend on the 16th. So we’re going to have a couple of Hitman players at Central doing a special story time, and maybe a chance for a meet and greet with those players as well.”
The Hitman story time takes place at the Central Library at 1 p.m., on Dec. 16 in the main gallery.
Willow the Fire Super Dog and her partner Jodie from the Calgary Fire Department will be doing a reading on Friday, Dec. 15, starting at 10:45 a.m, and Fire Chief Steve Dongworth will be doing his own story time on Friday, Dec. 22, at 10:45 a.m.
The films being shown at Memorial Park this year will be Frozen, Frozen 2, on Dec. 14 and Dec. 21, while the movies being shown at the Central Library will be The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe on Dec. 11, and Togo on Dec. 18.
For a full list of all of the free events at both libraries, see calgarylibrary.ca/events-and-programs/upcoming-events/.
