This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
June is LGBTQ+ month and the week of June 18-23 is Longmont Pride Week.
The Longmont Public Library is celebrating by hosting their Rainbow Storytime. This story time will take place on Monday, June 18 from 6-6:30 p.m. at the library, located at 409 4th Avenue, Longmont. The event is open to families and kids of every age.
Rainbow Storytime is a part of the library's Diversity Storytime series. According to Teresa Myers, marketing and communications manager for the Longmont Public Library, the series, "started in February, with our week of stories about and by Black Americans in honor of Black History Month." The series has also featured a Braille and a bilingual Spanish story times.
"The motivation behind Diversity Storytime is simple: to try and help every child in our community to feel represented and included in the library and in library books. American publishing houses are behind the curve with inclusion, but our librarians do their best to seek out high quality books and stories that show children, parents, and families of all types and configurations. We want to be super intentional about “windows,” “mirrors,” and “sliding glass doors”: windows for kids to discover new and different people, mirrors to see themselves reflected, and sliding glass doors to step through into someone else’s shoes," says Myers.
She continues, "While our librarians strive to incorporate as many books, characters, and authors of diversity into our regular story times, they are not designated specifically as Diversity Storytimes. Diversity Storytimes center on stories by or about a certain group that is frequently underrepresented in children’s literature. Those groups may be based on race, ethnicity, religion, disability, etc. We host these Diversity Storytimes several times a year. It often depends on what else is happening in the community, ideas staff come up with, and ideas brought to us by community members."
For this particular story time in the Diversity Series, the Rainbow Storytime will feature, "variety of picture books centered around families and kids across the LGBTQ+ spectrum," says Myers.
Representatives from Out Boulder will be present to answer questions and provide information for interested parties.
Night of Bicycling Fun Continues at the 7th Annual G'Knight Ride
The following is a press release from Bicycle Longmont/ G'Knight Ride and is published by the Longmont Observer as a public service.
The following is a press release from the City of Longmont and is published by the Longmont Observer as a public service.
The City has coordinated with BNSF to perform railroad repair work in Longmont on the following weeks during the summer. BNSF will have limited construction windows to perform work on the railroad crossings, so work will be completed within the allotted construction windows.
• Week of June 18
• Week of June 25
• Week of July 16
BNSF anticipates being able to complete two railroad crossing repairs per a work week. There are a total of five scheduled railroad crossings (four along Atwood Street and one on 9th Avenue). The 9th Avenue Crossing will either be scheduled as the first crossing for completion or the last, pending nearby osprey breeding.
Find more information about these crossing repairs and project manager contact information at http://bit.ly/rr-crossings
