Library to host Book Fest

The Evangeline Parish Public Library system will host its annual Book Fest from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, October 8 at the Ville Platte branch.
Suzy Lemoine, library outreach director, said, “The event was designed to offer library patrons an annual opportunity to purchase used or withdrawn books to build their own little libraries at home. It is also our way of saying “Thank you” for all the support over the years.
“We want to involve the community and make it fun.”
The event will feature a used book sale, food, authors, fundraisers, face painting and pet adoptions. The book sale will continue during regular library hours until Oct. 15.
Friends of the Library will sell sweet treats, and KVPI will also host a live remote at the event from 8 to 10 a.m.
Authors attending the event include Lynn Landreneau, author of “The Louisiana Cotton Festival, 1953-1992,” Jane Vidrine, co-author of a book of pictures from Evangeline Parish titled “Evangeline Parish,” Winston Lafleur, Alyssa Carson, Bonnie Hollier, author of “Her Awakening,” Katie Cormier, author of “Not in the Cards,” Curt Iles, author of “Trampled Grass: Stories of Courage and Hope,” Johanna Guillory, Nancy Duplechain, author of “Dark Bayou,” Lynette Edwards, author of “Take Off the Mask: You can Fool People some of the Time, But You Can’t Fool God Any of the Time” and Grace Sibley, author of “In God’s Unstoppable Favor.”
In addition to being an author, Carson, at the age of three, told her parents she wanted to be an astronaut, and she is on her way — she has attend Space Camp seven times, Space Academy three times, and attended Robotics Academy and Aviation Challenge Mach II once each. Carson was the first person to complete the NASA Passport Program. She is a 10th grade student at Baton Rouge International School.
The Pine Prairie Beta Club, Boys and Girls Club and 4-H Junior League will host fundraisers during the event. Information on Evangeline Parish 911 and Troupe d’Evangeline will also be available. Troupe members will also be at the event in costume.
Vendors with chair massages, knitted hats for premie babies, books on canvas and the James Dupre Fan Club will also be at the event.
The event is sponsored by the Friends of the Library and the library.
“The event is always in conjunction with Friends of the Library. That’s the group that conducts Book Fest. The library just enhances it.
“Friends of the Library is a very important group.”
Lemoine said books are donated by each of the parish’s library branches. The money from the event is given back to the libraries through Friends of the Library in the form of grants and incentives that fund things like the summer reading program or pay for performers to visit the libraries.
Lemoine said that about 300 people attend the event each year.
The main library will close at noon the day of the Book Fest, but the multi-purpose room, bathrooms and courtyard will remain open. The rain reschedule date for the event is Oct. 15.