Trunk or Treat Success!

Submitted by Kim Ottesen

Over 1500 people stopped by the library's Creepy Carrots van to get candy, books, stickers, and a color & cut activity. We also gave parents a bookmark with information about the library and children's programming. It was wild! Denise, Leslie, and I saw many patrons who were delighted to see the library was participating in the community event put on by the Forsyth County Fire Department and Sheriff's Office at the new Cumming City Center. It attracted hundreds of people and the first hour was exhausting because our many giveaways created a buzz. 

Leslie did a short Facebook/Instagram Live post right before the fun began to build up buzz about the event. It worked! In the busyness of the first hour a man pointed at Leslie and said, "Hey! I saw you on Instagram Live!"

For a limited time, I gave away leftover 'Read Your World' t-shirts and car magnets. Hopefully. we will see them around town now, which is much better than their bin-life under my desk. I took between 400-500 books with me and gave them all away to grateful children. Parents were so thrilled and said things like, "This is the best thing in his trick-or-treat bag!" One parent was so surprised he asked if he had to pay for the book. Free! Best word ever.

Leslie had never been in charge of the clicker in the wild before and found it fascinating how many people were interested in what she was doing. One man was perplexed and asked why we would want to know. More common was the hyper-interest of the booths and trunks around us who were grateful we had a count to share with them. Even the Fire Department and Sheriff's Office stopped by periodically to see what the count was. We performed a service for everyone! Information. It's what we do. Afterward, Leslie said, "Good thing we didn't designate a separate clicker count for all the times people said 'I love the library!' or I would have sprained my thumb!"

We were prepared for reference questions, too, and provided information to thirteen patrons that night.  But, just like at the desk, you need to be prepared for the unexpected--like a man asking how to remove blood spatter from a book page. We told him that he would need to pay for the book and he replied, "Well, you don't know me so I'm going to try to remove it and return it." You never know what's lurking in a book. It could be an unforgettable story or a biohazard.

A day after the Trunk or Treat, a new patron went to Cumming Library to get a library card. She also wanted to register for Crafternoon. And put Creepy Carrots on hold! Why? Because she attended Trunk or Treat! 

These stickers were SO popular, especially with teens! 

So many kids and parents recognized us and complimented
our "Creepy Carrots" costumes! Shoutout to PR YS Shannan Wade 
for making them for us. They were a huge hit!