New Berlin Library will have activities for young and old all through the coming year. (Submitted photo)

NEW BERLIN – Happy New Year and welcome to 2024. For the new year, the New Berlin Library has some new activities planned as well as some old favorites.

Easter is March 31st this year. We are looking at either March 23 or March 30 for our annual egg hunt and party. This event requires registration and we are planning to have two time slots to accommodate more children this year. As always there will be an egg hunt, crafts, games, prizes, and snacks. This year we will adding free printed pictures with the Easter Bunny.

The snowman art classes that we held in December were a hit. We are planning to have quarterly seasonal art classes for adults and children in 2024. The next session will be in April or May and will be spring inspired paintings. The next after that will be in July and will be a summer inspired painting.

The Annual Spring Tea is traditionally held the Saturday before Mother's Day in May. This event has music, flowers, hot tea, and snacks. Flowers are made available for moms, mother figures, and all other attendees.

The end of the school year means the launch of our children' s Summer Reading Program. This year's theme is “Adventure begins at your Library.” This is an incentive based reading program that awards children prizes for reaching reading milestones and awards grand prizes at the end of the program in August.

August is our busiest month at the library. The Perkins Performance Series takes place at Hyde Park, on Main Street in New Berlin. These free concert are sponsored by Andrea Miller and Donald Perkins in honor of their parents, Jean and Ruso Perkins. The concerts take place on Wednesdays at 6pm.This August we are also doing a second annual children's summer art program. This is a free three week program that takes place Monday through Thursday mornings in the library community room. This year's theme will be art inspired by children's books. We will start each program day with children's story time and then complete an art project inspired by the book.

The library will hold an end of summer tie dye party at the end of August. Participants bring a shirt and we provide the dye. There will be snacks and drinks and most important, the tie dye mess stays at the library.

For Halloween, the library will participate in the Night of Fun at Unadilla Valley School and hand out candy on the library porch Halloween night.

Our Annual Freewill Donation Book Fundraiser will take place the month of October in the library's museum and community rooms. People can shop our collection of used books for a freewill donation to the library.

In October or November, we will hold fall art classes, one for adults and one for children. And in December, we will hold our annual Holiday party with music, snacks, and a visit from Santa Claus.

Finally, the Chenango County 4-H Youth Development will hold after school science programs at the New Berlin Library at 3:30 pm in the community rooms on the third Wednesday of each month during the school year. These events are taught by 4-H educator Erica Clark.

Some great new additions to the library include: Being Henry: The Fonz and Beyond by Henry Winkler, Snowman's Story by Will Hillenbrand, Ten Ways to Hear Snow by Cathy Camper, A Thing Called Snow by Yuval Zommer, 100 Snowmen by Jen Arena, The Snow Dancer by Addie Boswell, Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner, Snow by Roy McKie, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny DVD.

The New Berlin Library is located at 15 South Main Street, New Berlin. The Library is open Monday and Wednesday 10 AM-8 PM; Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 10 AM-5 PM; and Saturdays 10 AM-noon. The web address is ibraries.4cls.org/newberlin/wp/. Please contact us at 607-847-8564 or like and message our Facebook page New Berlin Library and Museum.

– Information from the New Berlin Library