Despite February being one of the shortest months of the year, the Taber Public Library is still planning to have this month chocked full of events.

Program Coordinator at the Taber Public Library, Dawn Kondas, was able to provide a rundown of what events the library is offering.

“In February, we are continuing on with the Memory Café and those dates are February 2, 19, 16, and 23,” said Kondas. “They have somebody who comes in and does presenta- tions to people with Alzheimer’s, or dementia, and their caregivers.”

This event will be occurring at 10:45 am and will be running till noon on every day that is scheduled for the month of February.

“February 10 is Make a Valentine’s Card, and that is for kids, but we’re not going to kick any adults out that want to make a card for somebody special. I have everything almost ready to go here like little kits for people. Kids under six have to be accompanied by an adult, and only one card per person — even though there are two parents and they love both parents, we just don’t have enough materials for doing lots.”

This event will start at 1:30 p.m. and pre-registration must be made by Feb. 7.

“On February 11, it is open mic. It is for musicians and for anybody that just wants to come and listen to local talent,” said Kondas. “Lately, we’ve been having people play washboards and lots of different things. It’s really expanding."

The open mic will be running from 1-3 p.m.

“On Valentine’s Day, one of our staff here, Sarah is going to do Love Letters with Sarah, and that is Valentine’s story time. That’s at 11 and there’s going to be stories, songs, and poems, and then we will have cupcakes and maybe some other treats to hand out at the end. February 15 we are continuing with our senior speakers series that we partnered with Family Communities Services. Canada Revenue Agency will be here and there is a general talk at 10:30 a.m. about seniors’ benefits, credits, scams and things like that. Then at 11:30 a.m., if you want to stick around and get some help on an account, she will do that and then later on in the day at 4 p.m. in a quiet room, she will do a private consultation with you. That is all geared towards seniors.”

From here, Kondas quickly mentioned other events, the first one being the second edition of Family Movie Night for this year, which will be happening at 6:30 p.m. on the 17th.

“On February 17, we have a family movie and Turning Red will be the movie. We provide popcorn, but you can bring your own snacks and your own drinks if you like. On February 22 when kids are out of school, we are going to do a Smash Brothers tournament here and it’s open for kids up to the age of 13. We would like them to pre-register because of prizes and we get snacks as well as other stuff for the kids.”

Near the end of the month, the library will be trying out a new event that will be occurring over the lunch break from 12-1 p.m.

“Also on February 22, we are start- ing something new and it is Music and Munchies,” said Kondas. “What that is, is we’re going to get local musicians to come — acoustically play with a whole bunch of fancy equipment just to play for anybody over the lunch hour if they want to pop in and listen to loud music. It will be around the fireplace, so it will be very casual. We’re not going to try to interrupt anybody else in the library, but have something different to do and we are starting off with Richard Betts who also runs our open mic program. There’s going to be a special one for March that I don’t wanna say too much about.”

The last event that is scheduled for February is in collaboration with the Eagle Spirit Nest Community Association and will be occurring on Feb. 25 at 10:30 a.m.

“Eagle Spirit Nest Community Association is coming to do a program and I don’t know much about that. They haven’t informed us much of what’s going on there, they just have the date booked.”

To bring a wrap to this conversation, Kondas mentioned the ongoing event throughout this month, as well as providing a sneak peek of what’s going to come next month.

“We are continuing with our Duplo that is every Wednesday morning from 10 a.m. to noon, and the large Lego,” said Kondas. “It’s Lego that we actually won and parents can come and play with their kids. Then every Wednesday after school is Lego Club and it is for kids that are in school from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and I have snacks for them there. Sneak peek for next month. We are starting again in March Coffee with Council, that one will be on March 24, and then just the same stuff, open mic. The senior speaker series will be with Service Canada. It’s tax season, so we’re just trying to give as much information to people as we can, and a lot of that is going to be a one-on-one so if you need help, that is the time to come and get some help.”

Ian Croft, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Taber Times