Silver City Volunteer Library: Looking Forward to Summer 2013!

It's so beautiful out today that I started thinking about summer in Silver City. Every summer since 2003, Silver City Community Partners task force has organized a themed free kids' summer program for the Comstock region (Silver City, Virginia City, Dayton area). Parents and kids come to the program together and do all sorts of fun things as a family. Below is a small sample of some the activities that the Silver City Community Partners have organized since 2003. The Silver City Volunteer Library organizes its events to coordinate with the Community Partners events, hosting performances or presentations, featuring special book collections relevant to whatever the kids are studying for the summer, etc. The Silver City Volunteer Library and the Silver City Community Partners are both partners with the nonprofit Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey.

Sample of Events Since 2003:

Field trips to Shakespeare at Sand Harbor, to organic farms like Smith and Smith Farms, to museums and hands-on discovery centers in Reno, Carson, Tahoe, and Virginia City, to pools and state and large municipal parks, and to opera and musicals in Reno.

Summer reading programs at the local volunteer library

Themed book release parties for popular fiction such as the Harry Party series

Science, math, and engineering activities with 4-H and visiting engineers, scientists, geologists,  park rangers, River Wranglers, Mackay School of Mines Museum, Nevada Department of Minerals, Department of Wildlife, etc

Art lessons with professional artists like Deb Glogovac, Alison Harris, Andrea Delfin, and Larry Wahrenbrock, and artists and folk artists from Nevada Council on Arts 

Theatre productions like Old Plumbottom written by Will Rose and performed by local kids

Acting lessons with Nevada Shakespeare Company

Music lessons with Will and Sheree Rose, Chris Bayer, and Bob and Cashion Elston

Cooking lessons with locals like Renate Victor, Meg Burns, Louise Crawford, Sara Ross, Bonnie Brown and Cashion Callaway

Gardening and horticulture lessons by Renate Victor, Mary MacDonald, UNCE Master Gardeners and others

Lessons in basketball, yoga, and dance

Chautauqua or “living history” events with Civil War groups and Nevada Humanities scholars and Young Chautauqua performers

Bicycle repair classes with Chris Brown

“Tune In To Kids” parents and kids hands-on educational enrichment fairs with United Way

Chess lessons with Jim Allander

Rocket-building with Mind Builders teachers on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). 

Old-fashioned ice cream making with a hand-cranked ice cream maker (using organic fruit). 

Photography and journaling workshops with Renate Victor

Workshops on water systems of the region with Linda Conlin of River Wranglers

Workshops on animals like bats with Nevada Department of Wildlife

Geocaching Treasure hunt with Nevada Dept of Geology staff who taught how to use GPS systems