It was a nice size group, considering the mess on the roads due to a massive snowstorm this weekend (over 40″!). Lots of trees went down due to the storm and clean up is hampering traveling.
Our Executive Director, Sian Young, and Amber Wilde, the Director of Grace Balloch Memorial Library, made presentations outlining what THE BIG READ SPEARFISH is all about.
We learned how The Big Read is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, how often they give The Big Read grants out, and more.
Did you know that 77 communities in the United States were awarded Big Read Grants? Guess how many of these grants went to South Dakota? One. Us. Yep.
The Matthews spearheaded the grant, but we needed to get our great Library on board. Big Read grants require a community’s library be part of the equation. We also are in cahoots with the Spearfish Recreation Center, and Black Hills State University.
With our grant money, we have purchased over 200 “The Namesake” books that are available FREE. Yes, you read that right. You may pick them up at our art gallery, the library, and Spearfish Rec. Today at our Bellman Brown Bag lecture, we gave away some books. People tried to pay us!
Some of the events that are going to take place in Spearfish October through May are:
- Many book group discussions for all age groups at the Library
- A “Town & Gown Book Discussion” held in our art gallery, that is sponsored by the BHSU Honors Students. Open to all.
- Community Art projects once a month for all ages
- Lectures about immigration
- Foreign film festival featuring Bollywood films
- Parchesi tournaments
- Indian food….and more!
