Thanks to Katherine Elchert, the youth services manager at the Rice Lake Public Library for this guest post!
The Rice Lake Public Library hosts our annual holiday
extravaganza on the first Saturday of December. Instead of our regular family
storytime + crafts, the library goes all out with a fun performer, a visit from
Santa, milk and cookies, and a free book to every child from our Friends of the
Library group.
This year we invited a Minneapolis-based band -
Koo Koo Kanga Roo -
to kick off the celebration. They were amazing.... Bryan and Neil put on a
hilarious, hour-long show and then stayed to chat with their adoring fans. Koo
Koo Kanga Roo has developed a bit of a cult following here in Rice Lake as many
of the elementary schools use their
lively music videos as dance breaks.
When I was buying my
prize books, I went through a Rice Lake elementary school teacher's Scholastic
account. We were chatting when I mentioned the holiday party and how I hoped to
book Koo Koo Kanga Roo..... she (enthusiastically!) explained how they all use
Koo Koo dance videos in their classroom! Even with that
knowledge in mind, the RLPL staff was blown away to see
over 400 patrons turn
out for this event!
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Everyone's excited to dance with Koo Koo Kangaroo |
We were lucky because
the Rice Lake Holiday Parade was the Thursday night before the event. The
library stayed open late, gave out hot chocolate & cookies and handed out
flyers (with candy canes) promoting the event. Several staff members walked in
the parade, collected letters to Santa and handed out even more flyers! It was
an easy and fun way to invite new patrons to a RLPL event.
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There were craft projects and photo opportunities while kids waited to see Santa |
After the Koo Koo Kanga Roo show, everyone was excited to
share their Christmas wishes with Santa! Crowd control was a challenge, but
patrons kept busy at different craft stations, snacking on milk & cookies
and entering a
Holiday Family Photo contest. Overall, it was a wonderful
way to celebrate the holidays at the Rice Lake Public Library!
This wonderful event was sponsored by the Friends of the
Rice Lake Public Library and the Rice Lake Area Mens Club. We can't thank them
enough!
Labels: dance, family programs, holidays, music, parties, performers