I often get asked how to start doing StoryWalk programming. Here's the answer: TEAM UP WITH YOUR COMMUNITY! Bayliss Public Library part of this multi-sector effort to transform outdoor time, literacy, and community engagement. -- *Local organizations, city team up to bring permanent story walk*Taylor Worsham The Sault News https://www.sooeveningnews.com/story/news/2021/12/14/local-organizations-cit... SAULT STE. MARIE — The Power Canal Trail along West Portage to Ashmun Street will soon see a permanent story walk, which organizers said is going to benefit comprehension and reading for young children. After the installation of the first phase of the Power Canal Trail, Beth Rye, coordinator of the Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District Great Start Collaborative, reached out to the city’s engineering department with the idea of implementing a story walk. The Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District Great Start Collaborative is a group of parents of young children, members of the faith and business communities, local philanthropic organizations, community leaders, educators and leaders of the local public agencies that provide the majority of early childhood services in the community. All members are representatives of Chippewa, Luce, and Mackinac counties. Rye presented what a story walk entailed during last week’s city commission meeting. Beth Rye, coordinator of the Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District Great Start Collaborative, presented the story walk project during the Dec. 6 city commission meeting. “We all know in an era where we’re all using too much technology and phone and tablets, it’s very important to engage children in talking, reading and singing,” said Rye during the presentation. “We would like to think that a story walk like this along the Power Canal, which, when I first saw it, I thought, it’s a perfect spot for this to engage families to have a book in an outdoors activity and engage where they might not even realize they’re reading a book.” Funding from the Great Start Collaborative comes from several Department of Education sources. The project includes 16 display board signs that encase storybook pages, where families would walk the trail and read as they pass by each station. The Great Start Collaborative proposed that the City of Sault Ste. Marie approve the installation of aluminum post and frames for a permanent story walk along the Phase 1 of the Power Canal pathway. The Great Start Collaborative will purchase the post and frames, add the interchangeable books and find a contractor to install posts in pre-approved locations. It is not known at this time how often the books would be changed out. Bayliss Public Library will also host family events and promote the story walk along the Power Canal pathway. The vendor that would supply the display board signs is Barking Dog StoryWalk Solutions. Kaylynn Cairns, family engagement specialist for the Great Start Collaborative, teamed up with Rye to ask local citizens at the library during story hour for their thoughts on the permanent story walk, to which they received positive feedback. “The reason why we think this is a really important, fun activity to bring to our town is because the data shows, unfortunately, our third graders were not … proficient in English-language arts (in 2021),” said Rye. “The earlier we can start in developing either a love for reading (or) early brain development, will help these statistics and help kids with the ability to love reading early on.” During the summer, a temporary mobile story walk was built, which rotated between Chippewa, Luce and Mackinac counties. Rye said families and children expressed interest in the story walk and expressed desire for more outdoor activities such as this. During the summer, a temporary mobile story walk was built, which rotated between Chippewa, Luce and Mackinac counties. “Even the kids that can’t read loved it,” Rye said. The city commission considered a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Eastern Upper Peninsula Great Start Learning and Bayliss Public Library. “The services being requested in the MOU under the city’s categories aren’t anything outside of our normal routine maintenance so there’s no extraordinary work that we would have to commit to this project,” said city manager Brian Chapman during the meeting. For the entire pathway project, the City of Sault Ste. Marie will be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the completed trail. All maintenance costs will be supported by the city's local streets and parks operations budgets and are not likely impacted aside from increased traffic on the trail. “It would practically be insane to not support this. I mean, this is one of the biggest no-brainers I’ve seen in 15 years here,” said commissioner Ray Bauer. The motion passed with unanimous support from the entire commission. The memorandum of understanding shall be in force from installation in 2022 and reviewed annually. Rye is in the progress of a second grant to continue the story walk on Phase II of the project from Ashmun to Johnston streets. — Contact News Reporter Taylor Worsham at tworsham@sooeveningnews.com. Noah Lenstra Assistant Professor of Library and Information Science University of North Carolina Greensboro njlenstr@uncg.edu noahlenstra.com @NoahLenstra Author, Healthy Living at the Library <https://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=A5725P> Director of Let's Move in Libraries <http://letsmovelibraries.org/>