We actually do a Carnival-- bounce houses, balloon animals, carnival games, the works. Quality Dairy donates ices cream, other community business attend with food and games as well. It's exhausting-- but fun too! On Thu, Dec 18, 2025 at 11:42 AM Salem Township Library via Michlib-l < michlib-l@liblists.org> wrote:
Hi Kevin,
We had our first color run this year during summer reading, and our patrons loved it! We held it in the park using the (paved) trail so it was safe and accessible for all ages and abilities. Mom's came with strollers and littles and we had older kids participate too. We had music playing to add to the fun and offered water and lemonade. For our first try, we didn't have any winners or prizes; and participants could go around as many times as they wanted. But now that we've done it once, we'd like to try adding some other fun elements to it when we do it again next year.
Lisa Vande Bunte Director 616-896-8170
---- On Wed, 17 Dec 2025 15:47:48 -0500 *Hopkins Library via Michlib-l <michlib-l@liblists.org <michlib-l@liblists.org>>* wrote ---
Hello Michigan Library Land,
The last few years, we have had a foam party at Summer Reading Wrap-up party (as well as pizza and prizes). This has been our biggest event of the year, and the first year everyone loved the foam party part, but I've noticed that interest in the foam portion has waned a bit. So, I'm wondering if there are other fun activities we could put in its place. Specifically, I'm looking for ideas for activities that are:
- accessible to a wide range of ages (toddlers - middle school especially) - no limit on participants (we've had between 100-150 total attendees in past years, probably half of those are children) if people have to wait to participate, that's ok, but we let the entire community attend the party. - Outdoors (we have water and power available in the park)
If you have any ideas or have hosted any programs or vendors who fit this bill (and are located or willing to travel to Southwestern Michigan), let me know!
Thanks! Kevin
Kevin Meyer, Director Hopkins District Library 118 E. Main St. <https://maps.google.com/?q=118+E.+Main+St.+%0D+Hopkins,+MI+49328&entry=gmail&source=g> Hopkins, MI 49328 269-793-7516 http://www.hopkinspl.michlibrary.org/
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