An idea we kicked around at work today:
Display of several Christmas trees in the library decorated by local organizations.
Possible contest -- the public can vote for their favorite tree, and the winner will be announced by TinyTown Mayor at the Main Street holiday fair in mid-December?
I would like to partner with TinyTown Parks & Recreation Dept since they are the ones who organize said Main Street holiday fair. I'm hoping they have the budget to buy 6 or 7 small artificial trees.
Coworker suggested 1 tree be decorated with donated hats & mittens which would then be given to the schools for any child who needs them, or to a homeless shelter. I told her I loved that idea for a tree the library volunteer group could do -- especially because it would mean
1) giving back to the community that has generously donated to our library construction project;
2) I would not have to try to wrangle the library volunteers to agree on a theme for decorations, nor convince them to pay for decorations;
3) We wouldn't have decorations to store afterwards;
and best of all --
4) I've already been talking to our other coworker about teaching a free class for how to use a knitting loom to make hats. She has been making hats for her church to give away for years. I told her how much fun my cat mat sewing day in the library had been, with positive feedback from library patrons who enjoyed watching. I know we could get people interested in a free class, especially with a goal of making hats & scarves to decorate a library tree and then give away.
I love it when projects intertwine and publicize each other!
Coworker and I scheduled the date for the knitting class -- October 29th.
I will make up a flyer for the class.
I need to find out if she already has enough yarn, or if I need to ask for donations. Also need to look into what size loom she uses. Maybe we can find some at thrift stores.
We will need permission from the library board of trustees to do the decorated tree project. My boss added the request to the agenda for their meeting on Monday.