Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

July 31, 2008 issue


Read In at the Boone Mall Saturday


Story by Celeste von Mangan

All ears will be directed towards center court in the Boone Mall on Saturday, August 2, when the second annual Read In at the Mall begins at 11:00 a.m. The Rotary Club of Boone, Boone Mall management and the ASU Price Reading Council sponsor the free event.

“The idea is to promote literacy issues in the community,” said Sharon Canipe, chair for the project and a member of the Rotary Club of Boone. “The Rotary Club has a partnership with the ASU Price Reading Club. This is a local effort to promote books and reading. Basically, it’s a very simple event and we will be reading stories.”

The read in takes place during the tax-free weekend, a time when shoppers are primarily looking for back-to school bargains, and traffic at the mall consists of many families and their children.

“We are hoping to reach a lot of shoppers,” said Canipe. “We will have local celebrities like Mayor Clawson, former Mayor Velma Burnley, Jim Deal and some of the county commissioners reading stories to children. We also have some volunteers coming as costumed book characters—plus athletes from the ASU basketball team are coming.”

A comfortable area conducive for both listening to and reading stories, will be set up in the center court at the mall.

“Walden Books loaned us books to read, Simms Furniture let us borrow rockers and the Carpet House gave us squares of carpet to use for seats,” said Canipe. “The community has really been supportive of this event. We will also have a drawing every 30 minutes for folks to have a chance to win Boone Mall gift cards. Other prizes will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis, including posters and bookmarks donated by Walden and books donated from Parkway Publishers.”
The first part of the read in begins at 11:00 a.m. and ends at 1:00 p.m., while the second part begins at 3:00 and ends at 5:00 p.m.

The Price Reading Council is a local affiliate of both the North Carolina Reading Association and the International Reading Association.

“Folks associated with ASU are members of the reading council, and a number of teachers have joined,” said Canipe. “Rotary is an international organization and what we are trying to do is to promote literacy on a local level. We hope to have a good turnout, and children of any age and parents are invited to join us at the mall on Saturday. Hopefully, people will really enjoy this.”

 

Want To Go?


Date: Saturday, August 2
Times: 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m./3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Location: Center Court, Boone Mall
Cost: Free