Fun Filled Children’s Day with Books
Everyone looking forward to new library
A festive and fun Cinco De Mayo Parade on Main Street Porterville brought a crowd of hundreds to enjoy the morning, and at the same time in Centennial Park, Dia De Los Niños, or Children’s Day/book Day was taking place, promoting reading and book related fun activities.
The Porterville Public Library had multiple booths with free games with spinning wheels to win prizes, free children’s books, and a drawing to win prizes as well as their Grab-and-go books.
The Friends of the Library had a booth with free books, as well as Monache California Scholarship Federation had a booth featuring hand-painted signs with the dragon characters from “How to Train Your Dragon” to “Read.”
Grocery Outlet had a booth along with a few other organizations. There were lots of families with children having fun and standing in lines waiting their turn at games in the park. Ana Perez with her twin 7 year old sons, and two nieces were enjoying themselves. Perez remarked how it was really nice the city does this for the kids and how they enjoy these events. And they were all looking forward to the new library.
It was a sunny day, with all kinds of activities for children, including Corn Hole, and balancing wooden bricks on top of each other providing lots of fun for the whole family.
Claudia Martinez brought her two
pre-teen nephews Daniel and Salvador and said it was the first time they’d been to the event, they were having a great time, and it was lovely seeing the parade as well as enjoying Dia de Los Ninos.
Alexis Nevarez who’s an avid reader along with her three children and husband David, sat reading with her kids under a shady tree in the park. She said, “This is amazing that the library is still able to do these kinds of events for the children.
“At the Grab-and-go book center I continually find books on my to be read list. I love it, and reading is really important to our family. We are really looking forward to a new library.”
Half serious, half joking, Nevarez said, “I’m trying to learn the library business by being a “frequent flier.”
A member from the PHS Interact Club was sitting in the gazebo watching pictures being taken. He said, “This event is so fun, and people are so nice. It was great seeing the Hispanic culture represented in the parade.”
“A Wish Your Heart Makes” represented the character Mirabel, from Encanto, played by Emma Raymond, in a bright and colorful festive Mexican dress and costume posing with children while their pictures were taken by family members in the decorated gazebo.
“It’s so nice to have an event focused on reading, and it allows everyone to get outside, see new faces and enjoy themselves,” Raymond said. “It also brought everyone over after the parade to participate in a fun interactive community event.”
Anna Marie Olsen from the Porterville Public Library said this was their first big event since the library fire, “and the community was so excited to have us here.”
“We enjoy these events and we love serving the community,” said her colleague Karina Galindo, “and we can’t wait to get back into our new library.”
Pat Beck and Janice Whitaker were at the Friends of the Library booth where they had free books of all sorts available. They have tons of books in storage and greatly miss their building that was across the street from the library. “We are glad to interact with the public again and provide free books,” said Beck, “Our customers are all asking when we are going to open the bookstore again.”
“Our community thrives on these events,” said Tamara Anzivino. “And we are happy to be here promoting the library and the community. We’ve had a great turnout and are looking forward to opening again.”
Shawntaya Jeanes and Denise Fuertes stood by the “Toothless” character sign and were enthusiastic about the whole morning. “It was a lot of fun and great to see so many community members here,” said Jeanes, and Fuertes remarked how cool it was seeing Children’s Day and the Cinco De Mayo Parade, as well as being a beautiful day to be outside.
Jeanes said their club, Monache CSF, had worked throughout the year to paint and create the many dinosaur signs for “How to Train Your Dragon” to “Read” booths. “We love doing this,’’ she said. “Especially because this is our first time back from the pandemic, and we are glad to be working on the project again.”