Community Members “Leveled Up” at FFPL this Summer
At dinner last night, I asked my partner to guess how many people visited the library in June. He knows it’s a busy month, and guessed 2,500. It was pretty exciting to tell him the answer. Before you read on, take a moment to think of a guess yourself. Are you ready to find out? The Fergus Falls Public Library had 14,987 visits in June alone. The July number was almost as high, with a total of 14,827 visits to our building. With nearly 30,000 visits in just two months, you can say that we’ve been busy. We average over 10,000 monthly visitors, but always see an increase when the annual summer reading program (SRP) begins. This year was no exception; we had over 2,000 additional people come through our doors compared to June and July of 2024.
“Level Up at Your Library” was this year’s SRP theme and had a focus on board games, video games, puzzles, and, of course, reading. Our Summer Reading Kick Off event, held on June 2nd, brought in over 830 people in one day to register for the free program and get their gameboards. SRP ran for eight weeks, from June 2nd through July 26th. In total, 1,961 community members participated in our reading gameboard challenge! Participants are divided into four categories: Early Learning (ages 0-5) had 256 participants, Children’s (grades K-5th) had 614 participants, Teen (grades 6th-12th) had 304 participants, and Adult (ages 18+) had 639 participants. We also had 148 students who enrolled in the program from Kids Kamp (through the City’s Parks and Recreation department) and the YMCA’s day camp. All SRP finishers received a free prize book and a bookmark. Additionally, all children and teens who finished received a coupon to Papa Murphy’s for a free Mini Murph pizza.
FFPL offered a variety of events inspired by the “Level Up” theme. We held three “giant games” days where the community room was set up with giant-sized versions of classic games like Twister, Monopoly, Connect Four, and Candyland for families to play. We held our second annual Teen BINGO night in June, which had a turnout of almost 40 teens who came to play for prizes. There was also a great turnout for the 4th annual Teen Trivia Night and Cupcake Wars program, which featured trivia questions about board games and video games. Two jigsaw puzzle competitions were held; one for ages 10 through adult and one for grades 4th through 8th. Winning teams for both events took home puzzles as prizes. Lunch Bunch is our read-aloud book club for middle grade students. This summer, we read “Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library” by Chris Grabenstein. This book centers around a group of twelve-year-old students who stay overnight in their town’s new public library to try to solve a series of puzzles and see who can “escape” first. 35 students were able to participate in this program, and all received a free copy of the book to keep.
Every summer, we have a “Weekly Challenge” table set up near the front of the library with a different trivia question, riddle, or guessing game on it for different age groups. Winners are drawn at random for a chance to win prizes. This summer, there were 2,315 guesses made throughout June and July, and 40 lucky participants were selected to win games, puzzles, and gift certificates to Victor Lundeen Company.
The Fergus Falls Public Library would like to give a heartfelt thank you to its supporters of the summer reading program and summer reading tutoring program. We couldn’t have provided the programs and services we offered without generous help from: The Friends of the Fergus Falls Public Library, Lundeen Foundation, Papa Murphy’s Pizza, West Central Initiative Endowed Funds, ISD 544 Community Education, Service Food, Northern Aire Lanes, FF Noon Kiwanis, Otter Risers Kiwanis, Cooper’s Office Supply, Companion Animal Hospital, and Otter Cove. We would also like to thank all of the community members who participated in our summer reading program, attended events, and participated in our weekly challenges. Planning for next year’s program begins in January. “Plant a Seed, Read” is the summer reading theme for 2026 and will have a focus on farm to table concepts and the idea that both food and stories connect us to our family and culture.
Arielle McCune is the Youth Services Librarian at the Fergus Falls Public Library