The Easter bunny just hopped out of the library, when all sorts of colors started to bloom between our books.
It’s April, and it is the month when we celebrate our rainbow-coloured LGBTQIA2S+ community, and we like to help to get our town folks ready preparing seed beds and backyards for a summer of flowers and vegetables.
We start the month with a Food Gardening talk on Wednesday, April 3, 6:30 p.m. ryAn eSch, a member of the Jasper Local Food Society, will present ideas of how to create a successful vegetable garden in our challenging environment. Beginners and seasoned gardening pros are encouraged to join this talk as we want it to be a lively discussion panel of different ideas. This talk will have a sequel the following Wednesday, April 10 at the same time. Colleen from Alpenflora will give a talk about what grows well in Jasper, what can be directly sowed, and teach about companion planting for flowers.
Then we shift our attention to the Jasper Pride and Ski Festival that The Jasper Pride Festival Society organizes for our community. We have a Pride Tween Takeover on Tuesday, April 16 at 3 p.m. There will be a sweet surprise waiting for them to be decorated in rainbow colors. This event is designed for our Grade 4 to 6 youngsters. The library is also hosting a Pride Open Mic on Wednesday, April 17 at 6:30 p.m. for adults. Please bring your favorite poems, stories or songs reflecting LGBTQIA2S+ and present it to a supportive audience. A Pride Story Time on Friday, April 19 at 10:45 a.m. for children will follow featuring French and English storybooks to that topic. We finish our celebration of the rainbow community with a Library Book Club Meeting on Thursday, April 25 at 6:30 p.m. The book for discussion is “Less” by Andrew Sean Greer and talks about a man approaching his 50th birthday coming to terms with his ex-boyfriends wedding invitation by travelling the world on a literary tour. As usual you can pick up the book now at the library and read it in time for that book club meeting.
Jennifer Ottaway presented in February her moving life story as a homeless person in Quebec to us in the library. CBC followed her life at that time and created a documentary which was shown at the library’s presentation as well. Many locals were sad to miss this event and asked for a repeat of the talk. Jennifer graciously agreed to a second showing and presentation, and this will happen on Wednesday, April 24 at 6:30 p.m. Don’t miss the insights of a wise and weathered woman.
If you would like to get a head start on gardening issues this are new books in the library available to you now:
- “Saving Seeds: A Home Gardener’s Guide to Preserving Plant Biodiversity” by Dan Jason, 2020
- “The Climate Change Garden: Down to Earth Advice for Growing a Resilient Garden” by Sally Morgan, 2023
- “Gardening with Less Water” by David Bainbridge, 2024
