The Hercules Library held its first Phillipine Independence Day celebration last Saturday & it was a blast! Photos are here, thanks to Hercules Library Commissioner, John Mills, who, again, did an absolutely fantastic job taking photos. He also serves as the library historian, as selected by the Friends of the Hercules Library.
Given the fact that I was asked to put this together about 3 weeks prior to the date, there were no real glitches, and everything worked (well, except for the flood in the men’s room!). Over 200 people attended various events, including music, dance, speeches, food, and a diorama of Phillipine History.
One very exciting element was that we were able to hold a bilingual Tagalog/English storytime immediately prior to the event, thanks to library Assistant Abigail Llorente.
I strongly feel that the most successful adult programming in libraries are those that arise out of the community themselves, and succeed because they utilize what libraries do best: provide free community space with an emphasis upon sharing resources, skills and talents, along with an emphasis upon the importance of mutual cultural communication.
I hope that we can hold this each year.
