Ilsa Minor | Daily Press The Man with the Yellow Hat and Curious George poses for a photo with nine-month-old Mia Marsh during the opening of the the new StoryWalk at the Escanaba Library. The walk itself features pages from children’s books that parents can read to their children while making their way around the Memorial Garden on the north side of the library building.

ESCANABA — Parents and children have a something new to enjoy in Escanaba following the opening of the new StoryWalk in the north garden at the Escanaba Library.

The StoryWalk, a collaborative effort between the Delta County Great Start Parent Coalition and the Friends of the Escanaba Public Library, is composed of 15 free-standing panels, each containing pages from a children’s picture book. The books on display will change throughout the year, but for the opening of the new StoryWalk the book “Curious George Visits the Library” was selected to be on display.

The book choice was a perfect fit Wednesday afternoon, when Curious George and his perennial companion, the Man with the Yellow Hat, came to the Escanaba Library for the StoryWalk’s grand opening. Festivities were moved inside due to rain, but that didn’t stop families from enjoying the kick-off event and time with the book’s characters.

“Thank you for joining us today for the opening of the Story Walk in the Nancy Devlin Memorial Garden. George and I are very pleased to be here as special guests for this occasion,” said the Man with the Yellow Hat before sharing a few facts about the authors of the original Curious George books, Margaret and H.A. Rey.

Children who attended the event were given a variety of goodies, including bananas, sunglasses and books. Every goodie bag included suggestions for reading activities and a copy of the book currently on display.

“Thank you so much to the Escanaba Public Library for graciously allowing us to help bring the StoryWalk to the community,” said Laurie Mold, Delta-Schoolcraft Great Start parent liaison. “We’ve been looking for a perfect partner for that and the library is the best home for it. So, I hope that many people enjoy it and have opportunities to talk and read and sing with their children as they go through our Talking is Teaching StoryWalk.”

The grand opening also coincided with National Friends of Libraries Week. According to Escanaba Library Director Carolyn Stacey, the Friends of the Escanaba Public Library have embraced the project, and the library is working to make the StoryWalk a destination for children and parents long after the week is over.

“We plan to have fun with this year-round. We’re already thinking of activities we can do with this in the winter and the spring,” she said.

In addition to the Friends of the Escanaba Public Library and Great Start, Stacey also thanked the city of Escanaba’s public works department for working with the library to install the panels.