It’s time to kick off the summer celebration with Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library’s “Reading on the River.”

The public library will host a month-long slate of events to encourage reading and teach the community about rivers. This program is available to all ages, including adults, who would like to participate and learn more about rivers. 

“We are trying to do things to get our community to come together and use our space and offer a little bit of something to everybody,” said David Scott, librarian at the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library.

The Warren County Vicksburg Public Library has been transforming the children’s section with a waterfall, a beaver lodge with enough space for kids to read in, a canoe and much more to capture the feeling of being by the river. 

During the program, participants have the opportunity to compete in a reading competition in their age group.

“There is an app called Beanstack that we use to record reading minutes and it has reading challenges. At the end we tally up those reading minutes and determine who wins the prize,” Scott said.

Participants can also enjoy other fun activities such as a visit to the Central Mississippi Turtle Rescue, a paint party and a field trip to the Jesse Brent Lower Mississippi River Museum and Interpretive Center. 

“The Central Mississippi Turtle Rescue is coming and they are going to bring an alligator snapping turtle, and some other animals for the kids to get to look at and enjoy,” Scott said.

The library will also have local guest speakers from ERDC and the Vicksburg National Military Park along with musical appearances from the Kitchen Girls and a Dulcimer performance. 

On Fridays, the public library will be hosting river-themed movies there conference room.

“We also plan on having movies every Friday that are family-friendly and that will stick to the theme and there will be free popcorn,” Scott said.

There will also be a diorama competition, where participants can make a shoebox size model relating to the library’s river theme. The library will provide a booklet of the rules and instructions for the contest and the community has the opportunity to vote for their favorite once a day. The winner gets a prize including the library’s river-themed t-shirt. 

The Summer Library Program officially begins on June 1 at Catfish Row with a carnival-style opening, featuring games, food from Squeeze the Lime food truck and crafts provided by the United Way of West Central Mississippi. 

“We want to start off by celebrating summer down by the river,” Scott said.

For more information about the Summer Library Program, call 601-636-6411. Registration is open online at warren.beanstack.org and all events in the program are free.