With warmer March weather comes the beginning of the New Hampshire farming year – baby animals, plant buds, and maple! Miss Rebecca has reached out to HT Farm LLC in Belmont for a special story time adventure. On March 16 at 10:30 a.m., HT Farm LLC. will host our StoryTots time with an open house to their farm and Miss Rebecca will end the hour with farming stories. Any questions, feel free to contact Rebecca at (603) 267-8331 or youthservices@belmontpubliclibrary.org. HT Farm LLC is located at 60 Federal St., Belmont NH.

We are entering the tail end of the first quarter of 2023! How are you doing on your reading resolutions? Did you know that Belmont Public Library offers not one, not two, but four book clubs for our patrons to join in on? Rebecca hosts Tea and Tales Book Group on the second Thursday of each month at 5 p.m. In March, Tea & Tales will meet on March 9 and will be discussing How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry. Eileen hosts Friday Fiction on the third Friday of each month. The group meets at 10:30 a.m. and will be discussing The Keepers of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan on March 17. Copies of both book selections can be found on the main level of the library or through the library’s ebook services.

Wednesdays are reserved for Rebecca’s two youth services book clubs: GSF Book Club, (second Wednesday), and I.F. Book Club (fourth Wednesday). GSF Book club is open to students in Grades 5 to 8, and will focus on reading the nominees and winners of New Hampshire’s Great Stone Face Book Award. I.F. Book club is open to students in Grades 8 to 12 and will read books that have been nominated or have won New Hampshire’s Isinglass or Flume Awards. Book clubs will meet at 3:30 p.m. in the children’s room. Books can be picked up prior to the meetings at the monthly meeting and down in the children’s room.

Even if you can’t make it in person to the monthly meetings, pick up a copy of the books or on our digital services Libby or Hoopla. If you want to participate remotely, contact Rebecca or Eileen at circulation@belmontpubliclibrary.org.

Our Watercolor Group is growing like spring flowers. The group has been busy working on shading and recreating landscapes. Want to join but don’t know where to start? Bring your ideas and use our supplies! Working on a fiber arts project and want to bounce ideas off of other crafters? Join staff and other patrons on Wednesday mornings at 10 a.m. for a laidback hour of fiber arts crafting. Bring a knitting, crochet, or cross-stitch project you are working on or take a look at one of our Take Home Kits for a new idea. Both groups are self-guided but guidance and support is always available.

For the youngest crowd, join StoryTots, a story time for ages birth to preschool, on Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m., and Musical Munchkins at 10:30 a.m. on Thursdays. For our middle school children, we offer “Innovation Station”, a S.T.E.A.M. group that meets every other Tuesday at 3 p.m., and Cursive Club, a handwriting group that meets every other Thursday at 3:30 p.m.. Friday afternoons from 3 to 5 p.m. are reserved for our tweens and teens, alternating between Crafternoons and Film Fridays.

Belmont Public Library is excited to be offering some Tech Help during the month of April on Friday mornings from 10 to 11 a.m. Our dear trustee and friend of the library, Jessica, will be here to answer any technology questions our citizens may have.

Summer reading begins June 26! This summer’s reading program theme will be announced at our kick-off party. In the meantime, Miss Rebecca is busy planning on the small details that go into summer reading activities. What do you think this year’s theme will be?

Rebecca would like to give a big thank you to The Crust and Crumb of Main Street in Concord for donating wonderful cupcakes for the Library’s 95th birthday party. It was a great time had by all the attendees, new faces and regular faces.

The Belmont Public Library is open six days a week and any time at belmontpubliclibrary.org, serving the community with books, digital resources, and cultural programming. It’s our 95th year in the building, and our 130th serving the Belmont community.