Harry Potter, cotton candy, and puzzles, oh my

Excited kids and families, many in wizard robes, stood outside the Sweetwater County Library last Saturday, waiting in a line that stretched out the door and down the sidewalk. As they made their way inside they were greeted by Fleur Delacour and given a copy of the Maruader's Map to show them where to head on their adventure. From there they made their way through a maze of activities, from the Sorting Hat ceremony to Quidditch practice to the Chamber of Secrets itself.

The annual Harry Potter Party is one of the library's biggest events, but only one of the many things the library has in the works to keep offering both traditional and new activities and resources to the community.

A magical tradition

The Harry Potter Party is a long-standing tradition at the library that has been happening for well over a decade.

"I have been here at the library for 13 years, and they were doing Harry Potter parties before I even started," Youth Services Librarian Becky Iwen said.

After Iwen began working at the library, the annual party based on the books by J.K. Rowling continued to expand, moving from the multi-purpose room in the library to fill the entire building, and bringing in several hundred people each year.

There were 370 people in the building during the two-hour event this year, Iwen said. This was an exciting return to pre-COVID numbers, getting the party back to its normal size after having to modify and scale back the last two years.

In 2020 when the library was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the librarians put together take-home activity kits, which they gave out about 200 of, according to Iwen. Last year the library hosted the party in-person, but on a much smaller scale than normal, still practicing health and safety precautions.

While finding ways to still host the party despite the restrictions was "an interesting way of stretching our creativity," according to Iwen, she felt that everyone who attended was excited to get back to normal and enjoy the full party again, and she heard a lot of compliments on the event.

"We were overwhelmed with the support from our community," Iwen said.

While the library has had to scale back a number of their activities over the last few years due to factors like budget cuts and reduced staff, the Harry Potter Party remains ones of the events they go all-out for. With several Harry Potter fans on staff, the library team enjoys coming up with new activities to match the theme each year.

"Especially in our community, it seems like the magic of Harry Potter has not waned at all," Iwen said. "A lot of people are still very excited about it. And the books have a lot of depth to allow us to create new activities and to think of new ways of introducing kids to some of the themes in the books."

Iwen's main goal is to picture what it's like to walk through the doors as a child and to come up with activities that will create lasting and magical memories.

Cards for cotton candy

Another goal for Iwen became a reality over the last month.

"It's a personal goal of mine this year to develop more of those relationships with our elementary schools, middle school and high school," she said. "And also trying to - with the schools - promote the library's mission, which is fostering a love of reading for all. And the first step to that is a free library card that you can use here for free to check out books and movies, and all of our other materials like American Girl and Boy dolls and board games."

September is Library Card Sign Up Month, which is a national initiative with the American Library Association. Iwen saw this as a perfect opportunity, and came up with "Cards for cotton candy."

"Working with all four elementary schools, we sent out library card applications and the classes from each school that had the most applications returned in each grade get a cotton candy party," Iwen explained.

Applications went out to every student in Green River from kindergarten through fifth grade, and 659 completed applications came back. Iwen is especially grateful to all the teachers and parents who helped make the library card sign up so successful.

The library team worked to issue the new cards and complete annual card renewals for all the kids. And for the last few weeks, Iwen has kept her promise by going to each elementary school and making cotton candy.

"It has been a ton of fun, and it is very messy," she added with a laugh.

Constantly improving

"We're constantly trying new things," Iwen said of the library.

Especially during the pandemic, it was important for the library to change and adapt in order to offer programs and activities people could do remotely, Iwen said. But even now, there are always new ideas and ways to improve.

One of the newest projects in the works at the library is a puzzle collection. After adding the board game collection in the spring, which has been popular and well-used among patrons, the library has decided to expand to puzzles.

"I love doing puzzles, especially during the winter," Iwen said. "And I know a lot of people that like doing puzzles don't necessarily want to keep repeating the same puzzle over and over again. So I thought having a collection of puzzles that people could also check out might be something that people would be pretty excited about. So we are looking for gently used puzzles, if people have extras that they've made and they don't want to make again, that they would be interested in donating to the library."

Ideas of ways to improve and expand the library's offerings come from all around and from the library community around the world, according to Iwen, but also involve a lot of collaboration among the local library staff.

Generational joy

While the library team is always coming up with new activities, events and programs, they are also constantly continuing and building on the legacy the library has always had in the community. This legacy can be seen as new generations continue to enjoy all the library has to offer.

"I've been here long enough that my story time kids that I started with are in high school," Iwen said. "And I know someday they will come back to story time with their own kids."

Iwen loves watching kids grow up at the library, going through the different programs at different levels over the years. She's seen kids return to the Harry Potter Party year after year who are now old enough to volunteer to help run the event.

"That really tells me that that event every year is building those kinds of memories for them, that they're excited to do that for other kids," Iwen said. "It's so sweet."

One important part of seeing people return to the library is being able to offer community events for free.

"The library is supposed to be for everyone," Iwen said. "We don't want any barriers with whether or not you can pay for something. So making sure that what we can do is free for our entire community, I think has really helped let people know that we're always here. And so we see people back year after year after year."

Iwen hopes that as the library offers familiar programs through the years and finds ways to keep offering new things, people will not only have access to information but will have a community gathering place so that "when you walk in the door you're greeted by, hopefully, a very friendly, warm place that you're comfortable going to and that you want to spend time in."