Photo Gallery: Reading Rodeo

Library celebrates National Library Month with Reading Rodeo and petting zoo

The library concluded its Reading Rodeo week with a petting zoo during lunch on April 12. The event featured llamas, chickens, goats and other animals from Ewe Pet Petting Zoo and Pony Rides.

“What I was hoping to accomplish overall [was] a celebration for national library month,” librarian Liz Harrison said. “People may not remember the petting zoo, they may not remember me and they may not remember what they read in high school, but if they walk away with a memory that a library is a fun place where exciting things happen [and] making memories, that’s the thing I like the best.”

Due to the popularity of the petting zoo in 2017, Ewe Petting Zoo owner Paige Guardiola was invited back for this year.

“There was such a turnout [last time] that we were like ‘all right this time we are going to set it up a little differently and we’ll be ready for the crowd and just go with it,’” Guardiola said. “It’s always a lot of fun to share them. Kids just don’t have animals at home anymore. We get to go see kids [at] first birthday parties all the way up to people in nursing homes. Every time we take [the animals] out, we get to hear stories of when they were little or what animals they’ve had. Everyone’s got an experience in their life with an animal.”