GUILFORD — The Guilford Free Library will again be offering summer camps, free for resident children and $50 for nonresident children.
Librarian Cathi Wilken says in a news release the library “has been carrying on traditions for 131 years, but if you ask the parents and children who use the library, probably the one most anticipated is summer camp. Where else would Guilford's youngest residents find such talented camp counselors offering such wonderful programs?”
For the past two years, when many other social outlets disappeared, the summer camps have been especially important, Wilken says. “We were so pleased to be able to carry on with the major support of our community and are looking forward to yet another great summer of camp fun with everyone's help.”
The camps are free because of another tradition, now in its 12th year: the annual “Send a Kid to Camp” raffle.
If you buy one or more tickets, which are $10 each, you have the opportunity to win three pairs of gifts, each business offering a $50 gift certificate: Embue Cacao and the Guilford Country Store, Hermit Thrush Homestead and Hazel restaurant, Tapalou Guilds and Tito's Taqueria.
Tickets are available on the website at guilfordfreelibraryvt.org; at the library, 4024 Guilford Center Road; by phone at 802-257-4603; or by contacting a library Trustee or Friend of the library.
The winning tickets will be drawn at a concert at the Guilford Fairgrounds on June 11, featuring the Rear Defrosters, a honky-tonk, country soul, rock-n-roll band, whose players come from Vermont, New Hampshire, and Western Massachusetts.
This year's line-up includes: Soccer at the Library with Peter Welch, Erin Tkaczyk, and Matt Valentine, for grades 5–8 from July 11 through 15; Stream*Prov (Stage and Stream for younger children), led by Maia Gilmore, for grades 2–5 from July 25 through 29; Stage and Stream, also led by Maia Gilmore, for grades 5–8 from Aug. 1 through 12; and Nature Stories, led by Emma Hallowell, for K–2 from Aug. 14 through 19.
Sign up for summer camp at guilfordfreelibraryvt.org/programs.