End of Summer Fair at the Library

Joan Howard, Shirlee Goodgame and Les Howard

Aurora Guerrero and Kala’e Tangonan

By Léo Azambuja
The Friends of Molokai Public Library organized a fun end-of-summer event for the keiki on the lawn fronting the library last Saturday. While summer is officially only half-way through — it ends Sept. 22 — to schoolchildren, it’s already over: school’s first day was Aug. 4.
“This is called the End of Summer Fair,” FOL secretary Kayla Guerrero said. “The library had a reading challenge during the summer, and we just wanted some kind of fun way to end the summer for the kids.”
There were several different game booths spread throughout the library’s grounds. To cool off from the day’s heat, locally made Ono Ono Scoops sherbets were available for $2 a cup.
The game booths included a frisbee toss game, a water-bottle flipping station, a cornhole game, toy car races, a wooden dice block lawn game and even a spirited human slot machine.
“Every game is a winner; the automatic price that you get is a book,” Guerrero said, adding they had many donated books to give away. “If you win a game, you get an additional prize, so you get a book and a toy.”
One of the busiest stands was a face painting booth operated by artist Kala‘e Tangonan. Almost every child that came to the fair went through that stand.
During the event, FOL members announced the winners for the library’s summer reading challenge, with various prizes for different age groups.
FOL board president Joan Howard said every quarter they organize a sale of donated books and books pulled from the library’s shelves as a way of getting new members and add funds to the library.
“It’s really great. And what we do is we earn money, and then we can buy things for the library that they don’t have funds for,” Howard said, adding they bought a popcorn machine and a couple lounge chairs that will be placed in the upcoming community center behind the library.
“We’re expanding, so that the library is not just a place where it’s quiet,” she said.
Additionally, the whole library system, Howard said, is going under a remake “so it’s a fun place to go.” There are different activities for families every day of the week, she said.
This year, FOL members have been considering reviving the old Halloween costume contest the library used to organize, according to Guerrero.
“It hasn’t been put on for years,” Guerrero said of the contest. “It sounds like the Friends of the Molokai Library will be picking that up, and we’ll be starting that up again for the community this October.”
Guerrero said they are always looking for new members — a $5 membership lasts a lifetime — volunteers and donations, which can be done through https://sites.google.com/view/friendsofthemolokailibrary.
Howard wants to get more children involved in the library, so they can read more and put their phones down. Books are cool; they can take you anywhere in the world just by reading them, she said.
“Learn to read, because you’ll love it when you’ve learned,” Howard said.
Visit https://www.librarieshawaii.org/branch/molokai-public-library/ for more information.