The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Library hosts mystery program for young patrons
HARWINTON — The Harwinton Public Library and Pursue the Clues of Torrington invited kids ages 11-18 to experience a slightly spooky escape room adventure, based on Harwinton history on Oct. 28.
A group of 21 teens and tweens formed teams to complete five puzzling challenges that tested their knowledge of math, geography, local history, and even the Dewey Decimal system.
The program was the brainchild of the Harwinton Library’s new Youth Advisory Council (YAC). In May, Civic Family Services awarded the library a $400 grant to establish a Youth Advisory Council, whose members would help plan programs and select materials for the collection that were of interest to their age group.
The new YAC has helped plan a painting workshop, a mother/daughter spa night, and a Harry Potter trivia program. When Pursue the Clues donated prizes for the trivia night, it sparked an interest in hosting an escape room type program for teens at the library.
The YAC used some of the grant money to help pay for the program and sent representatives to make a presentation to the Harwinton Library Friends, requesting that they co-sponsor the event.
Because the Harwinton Library does not have programming money in its operating budget, members are constantly fundraising and seeking grants and donations to help keep a full calendar of activities. It was important for the YAC members to understand that programming starts with a good idea, but also involves finding the funding to make it happen.
The staff of Pursue the Clues visited the library to get an idea of the layout and discuss ideas for challenges. The fascinating story of the library’s original building, now the T.A. Hungerford Museum, captured their imagination and gave us the theme for our event:
Mystery of the Hungerford Museum: Theodore Hungerford had his nephew build a public library around his mausoleum so he would be surrounded by his favorite possessions in life…his books. When the library moved to its new location, Mr. Hungerford became angry and began haunting the museum – for his precious books were now gone. The only way to put him back to rest is to find his 5 favorite books located in the library so he can finally be at peace.
Library staff and volunteers were assigned characters by Pursue the Clues and had fun making costumes and decorating the library to resemble various spooky settings from the life of Theodore Hungerford. Five challenges tested the participants’ knowledge of the library and how to find things in its collection while also teaching them some bits of local history and geography that they might not have known.
The five teams were all able to complete the challenges and win the game. They received gift cards from Pursue the Clues to visit their Torrington site and try their hand at one of their other challenging scenarios.
This was a new and unusual type of program for our library. “We couldn’t be more pleased with the great turnout and the infectious energy of our participants,” library staff members said.