Andie Balenger | Daily Press Joel Tacey throws a comically large magic wand into the crowd of laughing children during his magical comedy show at the Escanaba Library Wednesday night. Tacey’s show, which educated students on the importance of reading, was part of the Friends of the Library’s annual ice cream social event. The ice cream social kicks off the summer event season for the library.

ESCANABA — The Friends of the Library annual ice cream social event kicked off the summer season for the Escanaba Public Library, located at 400 Ludington St., Wednesday night. Friends of the Library, a non-profit organization established in 1988, has been hosting the event for several years, encouraging community members to become involved in their local library’s activities and programs.

“This is one of the many things that the Friends of the Library does,” Carolyn Stacey, Escanaba Public Library director, said. “They fund any public program that we have. They exist to enhance and support services for the library.”

Wednesday night’s festivities began with a magical comedy show by Joel Tacey, also known as “Michigan’s Family Funnyman,” at 4:30 p.m. Tacey gave a surfer themed show, guiding children through a series of ocean books while performing small magic tricks. In one of Tacey’s tricks, he pulled “bioluminescent” lights out of attendees ears and shoes. These bioluminescent lights were representative of what deep-sea anglerfish use as a guide while living in the ocean.

At the conclusion of the show, families and community members gathered on the library’s north lawn for ice cream, cake, and musical entertainment by the Escanaba City Band. The Friends of the Library were hosting a book sale during the event as well, with everything being sold for one dollar.

This ice cream social was the first since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

“This is a community-wide event. We haven’t done it since COVID so it will be interesting to see who comes out,” Stacey said.

The library’s annual ice cream social acts as an introduction to the Children’s Summer Reading Program and events, which runs until the beginning of the new school year. This program encourages children to read throughout the summer months by incentivizing good reading habits, offering a variety of prizes that correlate with the amount of books read. Registration for this year’s program, titled “Oceans of Possibility,” begins Monday, June 13.

“The Summer Reading Program has been a tradition for a long time,” Stacey said. “It is a way to just encourage kids to keep reading through the summer and avoid that ‘summer slide’ that educators talk about.”

In addition to incentivized reading, several special events are tied to the Summer Reading Program as well. “Lunch with the Munch Bunch” will be hosted every Tuesday through July 19 starting on June 14. Bringing a sack lunch, children will enjoy a meal together on the Children’s Room patio at 11:30 a.m. Books will be read in the storyroom after the kids finish eating.

Children seven and up are encouraged to attend “Adventures in Crafting with Pasqua Warstler” on Tuesday, June 28 and Tuesday, July 19 at 2:00 p.m. Jamie Kozloski’s “Exotic Animal Rescue” program will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 3 at 3:00 p.m. in the City Council chambers as well.

Also returning this summer is the pandemic-borne “Live on the Lawn… at Lunch!” summer music series. Starting on June 9, live performances will be taking place on the library’s north lawn every other Thursday at 11:45 a.m. until Aug. 18. The June 9 performance will be by “Awake for Birds,” a vocal duo based out of Wisconsin.

“Since we weren’t able to hold public programs for a long time, last summer we wanted to give people a comfortable option for coming back to the library and doing something fun,” Stacey said. “It is a nice thing to bring the whole family to.”

Attendees of “Live on the Lawn… at Lunch!” are encouraged to bring picnic blankets, lawn chairs, and a lunch to enjoy while listening to performers. For the June and July events of this music series, various food trucks will be offering freshly cooked meals to listeners. Bobaloon’s will be at the June 9 event.

New to the Escanaba Public Library this summer is a Teen Summer Reading Program for 13 to 17 year-olds. Registration for the program began June 8, with those interested obtaining a bingo card from the library. Teens will be awarded a small prize for each “BINGO” they create throughout the summer, with all finished bingo cards being entered into a drawing for three separate grand prizes: $50 gift cards to Canterbury Bookstore, Willow Creek Cinemas 8, and Sherlock and Key Escape Room.

“We are just making sure there is a little something for everybody this summer at the library,” Stacey said.

Teens in the area are also welcome to attend the library’s “Retrogame Hangout” on June 18 at 12 p.m. The event will be held in the City Council Chambers, with both a Nintendo 64 and GameCube available for the teens to enjoy. Pizza and drinks will be provided at the event as well.

The library hosts a Lego Club event every second Saturday of the month. Kids bring their own Legos, or will be provided a set by the library if they do not have their own, and develop new creations in a group setting. The kids’ creations are then given prizes at the end of the meetings, which are always new lego kits.

“Lego Club is really popular for kids and families,” Stacey said. “This coming Saturday (June 11) is the club’s third anniversary, so we will be having a ‘block’ party to celebrate.”

Tailored more towards adults, Author Talks are returning to the library this summer. While an Author Talk was held on June 2, with authors JL Hyde and Ryan Hansen signing copies of the most recent publications, David Hardin will be presenting at the next event on June 16. Hardin has been traveling around Michigan to discuss his book “Standpipe,” a memoir on delivering water to the people of Flint during the water crisis. Eugene Milhizer will be presenting his work, “Dissecting Anatomy of a Murder,” on Aug. 9.

“Many people around here are keenly interested in ‘Anatomy of a Murder,’ so that will be something for people to attend,” Stacey said.

In addition to renting books, the library has a few miscellaneous items that they check-out to the public as well. The Delta Astronomical Society donated a telescope that can be rented, and even reserved, by the public. In 2019, several fishing poles were donated to the library which can be rented as well.

“We just recently received a donation of five new poles from the Bay de Noc Great Lakes Fisherman Club,” Stacey said. “So we now have 10 for people to check out.”

The Escanaba Public Library is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. The library is open on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and closed on Sundays. All of the library’s events are free and open to the public.