Each year, the Broward County Southwest Regional Library is the site of an event that hosts thousands of people per year: the Broward Public Library StoryBook Festival. Volunteers from around the county come together to make booths for the attending children, from games and activities to face painting stalls. The idea behind the festival, which has been running for 23 years, is to promote creativity, books, and S.T.E.A.M. subjects, all of which are incorporated throughout the event.
Each year, the library invites an author to sign books, perform readings, and talk with attendees. This year’s guest author was Judd Winnick, a well-appraised New York Times bestselling author and cartoonist, who was stationed in the library’s lobby. The star of the event was present for the majority of the festival, giving a speech about his experiences in the auditorium, and then giving out autographs on his new comic book, Hilo.
Student volunteers walked throughout the event in costumes, signing autographs in character. In fact, members of the Star Wars-themed charity group, The 501st, dressed as stormtroopers and Sith Lords to take photos around the venue. Other volunteers filled different booths around the library and Broward College campus. Other activities, which began at 10:00 AM and ended at 3:30 PM, included magic shows, science experiments, martial arts displays, face painting, and even mock lightsaber training.
Some of the booths had signups that participants needed to complete before using, such as the Star Wars-themed “Saber Training”, in which attendees were given a brief lesson about lightsabers, followed by a few activities, including sparring and striking bubbles out of the air with makeshift lightsabers constructed out of red pool noodles, spray paint, and colored tape. “I decided to join, because, well, I’m a nerd and I like Star Wars,” explained one library employee working the Saber Training booth. “I think everyone had fun,” added Sasha Andrade, the other library employee at the booth, who was dressed in a Star Wars Sith costume.
Other areas, like the computer lab, were set up with more activities for anyone who happened to be at the library, no sign-up required. The computer lab was organized so that attendees could play Geoguessr and interact with augmented reality technology all day, while the outdoors portion of Broward College was opened up for the StoryBook “Swappin’ Ground”, where hired storytellers and participating children could take a microphone and tell stories to a crowd.
Charter students made up a decent portion of the volunteers at the event, since it was on the school’s campus, and the festival was a good source for easy hours. Each student working a full-day shift would receive 7 volunteer hours: 6 for the event, and 1 for attending the training the week before.
The stations at the library weren’t the only attraction–a fire truck drove by during the earlier hours of the event, and musical performances from local schools’ bands were held throughout the entire day. In addition, 3 food trucks were stationed outside the building, one being a miniature French café on wheels, as well as an Auntie Em’s pretzel truck and a hot dog truck. Each of the trucks sold very well, and the owner of the Le Macaron café truck expressed his satisfaction with the event. “We did well,” he said. “The library actually reached out to us and asked if we were interested.” The trucks, despite being few in number, did have a substantial amount of buyers throughout the day.
Overall, the event drew in well over 1,000 people. The library’s Youth Services member, Jessica Ng, who directed all of the training and most of the event, sent out an email congratulating the volunteers after the festival was completed. Overall, the StoryBook Festival was a great success, evidenced by the happy faces of the children attending and the staggering number of guests. The library has already begun preparations for its next community event, its Polar Express Family Night on December 18th!