VILLAGE OF WATERFORD — Cailyn Kysely gripped her golf club Saturday, a look of intensity on her sun-kissed cheeks as she tried to line up with the orange alligator’s gapping jaws.
Amid aisles of books and stuffed giraffe and dinosaur obstacles, Cailyn, 6, and a host of other children wove their way through the Waterford Public Library on Saturday. Their mission? To complete the 16-hole mini golf course that library staff and helpers laid out to kick off the summer reading program for children.
“I like the tunnel thing, and you go through that,” Cailyn, of Waterford, explained, turning to point at each of her favorite “holes” or obstacles. “I like that rock (‘n roll) one. And I like that (pirate ship) over there. I like the one where you golf all the way into the alligator’s mouth and (the ball) pops up.”
Cailyn’s younger sister, Makenna, 4, had a few of her own favorite parts to the course.
People are also reading…
“My favorite was the polar bear and the giraffe and the dinosaur one,” she said, pondering each of her choices.
This year’s summer youth reading theme is “Dig into Reading.”
Children’s Librarian Tricia Cox said by noon on Saturday, 82 families with more than 170 children had come through the library to sign up for its youth summer reading program on its opening day. The event began at 9 a.m. Saturday, and within those first three hours, more than 170 children had signed up.
The big draw was mini golf, and checking out some books.
“We had 972 kids participate last year,” Cox said. “We have 50 programs in summer for kids, teens and adults.”
Children through age 18 are eligible to participate in the library’s summer youth reading program.
“We often have more than 100 kids attend our program. It’s grown a lot,” Cox said. “Now I prepare for at least 1,000 kids and 500 families, and last year I had 972 (children).”
This is the fourth year she has conducted the opening day mini golf course through the library, which is located at 101 N. River St. She said they spent four hours on Friday setting up the course.
“It was actually five hours,” said Cox’s daughter, Jessie, 10, of Rochester.
Jessie said her favorite part of the course was an aisle in which her twin brother’s and younger brother’s baseball gear — such as mitts and helmets — was strewn.
Middle school teacher Carrie Kysely, 34, of Waterford, said she brought her daughters to the library for the reading program because, with Makenna just finishing kindergarten and learning to read, she wanted to encourage that.
“Especially with me being a teacher, we want to especially encourage all reading as often as we can,” she said. “This is the time to get them excited about it.”
How excited were her girls when she told them about playing mini golf in the library on Saturday?
“Makenna just kind of goes with it. But for Cailyn, she grabbed her club immediately,” Carrie Kysely said.
For more information about the Waterford Public Library’s summer reading program for children, call (262) 534-3988.