On June 21, the Lakeview Public Library held their annual Diana Walker Rock the Block Summer Kick-Off Party in the parking lot of the library.
“Folks know that in the summer, when there’s no school and parents are looking for things for kids to do, they can come to the library for free and use the facilities, the Wi-Fi, the AC, attend the programs, or just hang out,” Camina Raphael-Lubin, library director, said.
This free event invites members of the community to come enjoy music, eat food and honor the memory of Diana Walker. Walker was a clerk at the Lakeview Public Library for over 30 years and passed in 2015, shortly after her retirement.
“It was only after she passed away that we realized how much she had done for the community,” Sean Edwards, a librarian in Lakeview for 17 years, said. He described how Walker gifted children bicycles and took people off the street and into her home. “Nobody ever knew she had done all these things, except for those she helped. So we decided to honor her, and if there’s anything that she’d wanted in her name, it would be a party.”
This year’s celebration included vendors, a DJ, and a bouncy castle. Members of the library staff prepared burgers, hot dogs, and fruits to share with attendees.
Local music artists performed for the crowd, and residents participated in block party line dances. They were also instructed to join in different country line dances. There were basketball games, giant connect four, and foosball.
“There’s this thing called the ‘summer time slide,’ where kids tend to forget a lot of what they’ve learened in the school year. So we’re hoping that folks come in and preserve what they’ve learned in school,” Raphael-Lubin said.
In order to get readers excited about summer reading, library volunteers ran a craft table celebrating this years theme “Color Our World.” They invited attendees to design a puzzle piece as part of a collaborative art puzzle.
