Library to bring town together for record-breaking 'read'

Paul Revere" together from 7 to 8 p.m. KATE DALY Smita Bhogle, 3, models a tri-corn hat on display at Shrewsbury Public Library. The display of books about Paul Revere is promoting the Saturday Oct. 25 "lighting the way" event at which community members will gather on the library lawn to read "The Midnight Ride of Shrewsbury - The Shrewsbury Public Library has a plan to bring the community together to read the same poem from 7 to 8 p.m. Saturday Oct. 25 on the library lawn.

"Essentially what we are trying to do is a celebration of reading," Library Director Ellen Dolan told the Board of Selectmen Sept. 22. "The approach would be to set a local record of the number of people reading the same thing at the same time."

SELCO will donate energyefficient flashlights for the evening event so that everyone can read "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and will light the lawn with LED Christmas lights.

"We also felt this might be a nice tradition to start," Dolan said.

Kathi Coleman, one of the library volunteers who helped set up the event, said the event connects with other town events, including SELCO's centennial.

"It ties in with our new theme we've developed for the library - Shrewsbury library lighting the way," she said.

The event will have some surprises, including celebrity readers, Dolan said, and a fife and drum corps will lead the celebrity readers onto the lawn.

If the event has a large turnout, Dolan said, the parking lot will be available. The organizers have already arranged for off -site parking and shuttles to the library to keep the facility's lot free for an overflow crowd and parking for the handicapped.

After the meeting, Dolan said the project came as a follow-up to the Big Read, in which the library encouraged people to read books about the immigration experience.

"We really wanted to have something that would help connect the community," she said. "As a library we wanted to have something that emphasized the value of literature."

A committee of 30 brainstormed the idea of the community event, and it has grown to include others. During the Spirit of Shrewsbury, the library hosted a performance by the Heritage String Band at the Artemus Ward House.

Library trustees, staff and Friends of the Shrewsbury Library marched in the parade wearing tri-corn hats and carrying lanterns to carry on the theme, Dolan said.

Working with the town Parks and Recreation Department, the library is also setting up a story walk featuring a children's book on Paul Revere and William Dawes, who also made the midnight ride, at Jordan Pond for the weekend of Oct. 18.

"We're taking the book and it will be posted along Jordan Pond," Dolan said. "That's something that people can do all day, kind of a selfguided walk."

She also gave Coleman credit for overseeing the many details of the "Lighting the Way" event, from arranging shuttles to marketing the event.

Many libraries host such events to encourage reading, Dolan said, but that isn't as much of an issue in Shrewsbury.

"Shrewsbury is a very well-read community. Seven out of 10 residents have an active library card," she said. "We think that Shrewsbury is a very active reading community. In a sense we don't have to do this, but we think celebrating reading is important."

The event also celebrates the library's place in the community, she said.

"We're obviously tying into the history theme and also the future," Dolan said. "We think the library is part of what makes this community great."