STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Hailey and Bellevue public libraries will celebrate their new Summer STREAM programs from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 28, outside the Hailey Public Library in the Hailey Town Center West parking lot.

The free event will include art activities, water rockets, a maker space, mud kitchen and a taco truck.

The idea is to give the community a peak at new children’s programs revolving around science, technology, reading, engineering, art and math.

“Families can eat tacos while building and creating and secretly learning,” said Amanda Riccardi, a former Hemingway STEAM School teacher. “We are also showcasing the opening of a newly created play area with garden bins and a mud kitchen that evening, as well as a community art project to help beautify the Town Center West building.”

The family night will have lots of hands on activities like a bubble station, water rocket making, clay flower art project, marshmallow and spaghetti tower building, story time in both English and Spanish, and a take home sunflower painting project which will be displayed in the new "pocket" park next to the Town West Building, said Riccardi.

"The pocket park used to be overgrown and full of litter - it will now contain garden bins, a small playhouse and a mud kitchen (an area for kids to play kitchen with sand and water). We'll have our ribbon cutting ceremony there on Family Night."

Tacos may be purchased at the taco truck; free frozen yogurt bars also will be available, donated by Grocery Outlet.

The program kicked off on Thursday, June 15, at the Hailey Public Library with a program on fossils and a project dealing with erosion. The Summer STREAM program will run from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. through Aug. 17 at the Hailey Public Library. A similar session is held at 1 p.m. Thursdays at the Bellevue Library.

A Teen STREAM runs from 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesdays at the Hailey Public Library through Aug. 16.

The new programming was created with the help of an ESSER grant designed to help children recover from losses incurred during the COVID pandemic.