LAURINBURG — More than 31,000 minutes have been read by area children this summer through Scotland County Memorial Library’s annual summer reading challenge.
According to Library Program Coordinator Katelin Gandee, 144 children ages 0-18 signed up for this year’s summer reading challenge. With a few days remaining before the final reading logs were due, participants had already recorded approximately 31,600 minutes of reading.
“Kids under 13 are able to come in every 100 points to get a prize out of the treasure chest, then get a grand prize at 1,000,” Gandee said. “Then our teens get a grand prize at 1,000. Last year we had 41,000 minutes read, so I’m hoping once everything is turned in we will hit that number since we’re so close already.”
The reading challenge encouraged children and teens to continue reading throughout the summer while also giving them opportunities to earn prizes and participate in library activities.
In addition to the reading challenge, the library offered a variety of programs and activities throughout the summer designed to keep children and families engaged. Activities included larger special events like Rockstar Magic, Mad Science, and the Scotland County Sheriff’s Office as well as smaller programs.
The library’s summer reading program ended Wednesday with the second annual Messtival, which brought around 30 children and parents to the library for an afternoon of messy fun.
Attendees were able to enjoy mountains of bubbles from Foam N Fun, tie-dye, painting, dinosaur digs, oobleck and more as they wrapped up another summer of reading and activities at the library. The results of this years backdrop painting will be on display during next year’s summer reading program.
“In total, we had over 1,300 participants throughout our entire summer reading program from our various large programs to things like craft night and dinosaur scavenger hunts,” Gandee said. “We definitely saw a higher average number during our larger programs, so that was very exciting to get to see so many kids and families out at the library this summer.”