Readers will be allowed to play through at the St. Albert Public Library Sunday, as long as they don’t trip over the dominos that snake their way through the stacks of books.
Several events, which include mini-golf, have been organized so that the library can participate in St. Albert’s 150th Anniversary Rendezvous Picnic Aug. 28.
“The plans for the Rendezvous Picnic are pretty impressive and the range of events being staged will certainly create a carnival atmosphere in downtown St. Albert. We wanted the library to be part of the celebrations in support of the 150th anniversary and also to mark our own 50th birthday,” said library director Peter Bailey.
The mini-golf course will be as green as a sporting event held within the walls of a library event can possibly be.
“We won’t have real grass, but it will be green and the nine holes will take in the whole library, on both floors,” said communications assistant Shelley Martell, who helped to co-ordinate the day’s events.
Golfers will get their score cards upstairs at the clubhouse, which every other day of the week is the Program Room. After they finish playing, they may return to the clubhouse for a glass of lemonade or they can settle down and watch the book dominos fall.
Library staffers Will Riddell-McKay and Geoff Manderscheid, who organized the domino event, have already practiced by setting up and filming small displays throughout the city.
“We made a video outside at Lorne Akins Junior High School and at the train track near the grain elevators,” said Riddell-McKay.
The video, which will be posted on the library’s website at www.sapl.ab.ca fools the eye and makes beholders believe that books are falling all over town.
Fewer than 50 books were used for the promotional video but Riddell-McKay hopes to have 600 or more hardcover novels lined up for the actual event, which takes place at 2 p.m.
“We figured out they all had to be hardcovers and they had to be the same size so they would fall evenly. All books that we’ll use have been withdrawn and are ready for book sales. In fact, if someone sees a book they want to buy, they can — as long as they wait for it to finish in the dominos game,” Riddell-McKay said.
The domino effect hasn’t actually been tried within the library walls as of yet, and there will be a golf game going at the same time, so Riddell-McKay is inviting the public to help set up the books.
“I don’t want all that pressure. What if they don’t fall?”
But if it works, the game can easily be moved, redesigned and set up again.
“People are encouraged to come along and help build the longest line of books we can manage then watch as it topples its way around the library. Then we might even build it all over again,” said Bailey.
Library staff members also organized a scavenger hunt to encourage people to visit other Rendezvous Picnic events.
“It’s tied in to the overall picnic. We’ve got a number of questions about the various stalls and activities that are going on close to the library,” Martell said.
Bailey admitted that activities such as mini-golf and dominos may seem a little wild, but stressed they are entirely in keeping with the St. Albert Public Library’s master plan and the idea of cultivating the community.
“The focus is going to be more about what we can do for the community. We want the library to be the centre and the hub of the city. The library is proud to be part of the 150th anniversary celebration in the old St. Albert way, where everyone participates,” he said.
The St. Albert Public Library will open early Sunday at noon, and the events will finish at 5 p.m.
