SPARTA — At a park better known for baseball and softball than horses and library books, Selover Public Library turned one corner of Highland Community Park in Sparta into a festival of stories and animals.
The library in Chesterville invited community members to share their animals at the library’s July 2 “Tails and Tales on the Trail” event as part of this year’s Tails and Tales summer reading program.
Sunny skies and a cool breeze welcomed visitors and a wide variety of animals.
The tally of animals came to eight dogs, three horses, three goats, three turtles, two rabbits, two sheep, one chinchilla, one baby donkey, one snake, one cat, and one guinea pig.
Participants included Stormy the K9 and Detective James Coulter from the Morrow County Sheriff’s Office, Dog Warden Sarina Faye from the Morrow County Dog Shelter, Angie Hamilton from the Humane Society of Morrow County, Tanya Corzatt from the Cowboy Perseverance Ranch, and members of the Spirit of Livestock 4-H Club.
Many individuals also shared animals, including Kim and Kendra Harvey and Jack Walker, Rodger Norcross, Michelle Mosher, Elliot Wall, Hannah Turowski and others.
Also involved were guest readers who volunteered to share animal stories with the children: Nancy Alspach, Joyce Ray, Deb Knechtly, Anna Mahan, and Peggy Perkins.
Selover Library also moved a selection of their books to the park for library patrons to check out at Selover’s first-ever pop-up library.
Participants enjoyed visiting with animals and hearing tales read aloud. Sixty-six children completed the animal scavenger hunt to win a small prize.
The library also invites the public to its next Summer Reading program: “Cowtoonin’ with Jeff Nicholas” on the Selover Library lawn on July 16 at 10:30 a.m. Visit seloverlibrary.org for details.
