More than just books

By Karen Kelly | Special to the Times Vedette

The Friends of the Guthrie Center Library had a fantastic time hosting a fundraising golf tournament on Saturday, June 27 at the Guthrie Center Golf Course. We had 11 eager teams join us for our four-person best ball tournament. A huge congratulations to the winning team: Rod Rumelhart, Kelly Bast, Kristopher Schroeder and Jack Robbins. They played wonderfully. Also, a big shout-out to our second-place team: Brandon Schreiber, Bailey Schreiber, Brandon Peterson and Cameron Hester. Well done, everyone, and thank you for supporting the Friends of the GC Library. 

We’re excited to share that our “Plant a Seed: Read!” 2026 Summer Reading Program was a resounding success. Throughout June, the library was buzzing with fun programs and activities. We had 91 kids sign up to join the reading adventure. The MJB Library hosted 12 awesome events during the month, and a total of 506 attendees came out to participate. By the end of June, 33 kids proudly turned in their reading logs, racking up an incredible 543 hours of reading. That means each of those amazing kids averaged about 16.5 hours of reading. We are so proud of our young readers.

A heartfelt thank you goes out to all the kids who participated and to the parents for supporting the library program. A special shout-out to our wonderful community partners who helped make this summer reading program such a success. 

Let’s keep the reading momentum going. Don’t forget, we’re still accepting reading logs for our Bikes and Books drawing until July 31. Happy reading, everyone.

Patrons are reminded that the cardmaking class, led by Judi Zimmerline, is on Thursday, July 16 from 9-11 a.m. Cookbook Club will meet at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 16. Canasta class will be Tuesday, July 21 at 1 p.m. Cribbage is every Monday from 9-11 a.m., and bridge class is 9-11 a.m. every Wednesday. Craft and Connect continues to meet each Monday at 4 p.m. for crafters who enjoy socializing with other creative people while working on projects. Members of the Reads Well with Others book club are reminded that copies of Fredrik Backman’s “My Friends” are available for check-out before our 5 p.m. book club on Tuesday, July 28. 

Youth have Creation Corner at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22.  At 1 p.m. on Thursday, July 23, the Guthrie County Farm Bureau will present a youth event entitled “Grains We Grow.”  Preschool Story Hour is every Friday at 10 a.m. 

Patrons are reminded that due to the influx of RAGBRAI riders coming to town on Monday, July 20, the library will have extended hours. On that day only, the library hours will be 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.