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Downtown holiday storybook stroll shares spirit of Christmas

After experiencing amazing success since February with the outdoor Storybook Walk series at Brown Drive Park, Tanya Reid of Ladysmith Resources Centre Association (LRCA) is offering a special Christmas version, the Holiday Storybook Stroll, in downtown Ladysmith during the month of December.
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Tanya Reid, AEL program coordinator at LRCA holds the first book in the LRCA’s special Christmas version of its Storybook Walk. (LRCA photo)

After experiencing amazing success since February with the outdoor Storybook Walk series at Brown Drive Park, Tanya Reid of Ladysmith Resources Centre Association (LRCA) is offering a special Christmas version, the Holiday Storybook Stroll, in downtown Ladysmith during the month of December.

“With so many things cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic, I felt families were so limited in terms of safe activities they could do together. A Christmas-themed Storybook Stroll seemed like the perfect option. We were able to get 17 downtown businesses and organizations to participate and they will be displaying picture book pages in their windows for readers, of all ages, to enjoy. A team of festively dressed volunteers will put up a new book every Wednesday for a total of four books for the month of December. It’s so exciting,” said Reid, coordinator of the LRCA Adventures in Early Literacy (AEL) program.

The first book featured on Dec. 1 is Tough Cookie by Edward Hemingway and the books and the pages change Dec. 8 (The Most Wonderful Gift in the World by Mark Sperring), Dec. 15 (Santa’s New Beard by Caroline Crow and Dec. 22 (We Wish You a Merry Christmas by Helaine Becker).

Holiday Storybook Stroll maps are available online or at the Ladysmith Chamber of Commerce and LRCA offices. Downloadable maps are available online under the AEL program page at www.lrca.ca.

The map provides a route for families to find the pages in order and read the book in its entirety. In addition to a seek and find game, the map also contains a QR code that when scanned, leads to a registry for book prizes and one grand prize basket.

The prizes as well as the entire Holiday Storybook Stroll is generously funded by PacificCare Resource and Referral. The organization has been a huge supporter of the Storybook Walk at Brown Drive Park, and funded more than 200 literacy bags that went out into the community earlier this year.

Art students from Ladysmith Secondary School created 17 frames for the downtown book pages.

Reid said schools from Nanaimo and Ladysmith contacted her looking to incorporate the Holiday Storybook Stroll into their field trips.

Since February, the Storybook Walk at Brown Drive Park has attracted hundreds of readers including school groups. By the end of this year, Reid and her team of dedicated volunteers will have put up 36 books at the park.

“The response to the Storybook Walk at Brown Drive Park has exceeded our expectations. I’m so grateful to Ladysmith and District Credit Union, Ladysmith Rotary and The Town of Ladysmith for getting behind this project from the beginning. It’s because of Brown Drive’s success, and the positive feedback from the community, that I wanted to do more and so the Holiday Storybook Stroll was born.”

The Holiday Storybook Stroll starts with Ironworks Café and Creperie, where participants can enjoy a special 50 per cent off deal on hot chocolate and ends at the Chamber office.

The Holiday Storybook Stroll is self-guided, free and can be enjoyed anytime during the month of December.


 

@_hay_tyler
editor@ladysmithchronicle.com

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