The 700th Little Free Library in the Capital Region District will be open on July 30 in Vic West.
The community is encouraged to gather for the ribbon cutting this Sunday, which will be followed by refreshments.
“One of the great things about the Little Free Libraries is they just express a creativity of our community,” says Teale Phelps Bondaroff. Phelps Bondaroff leads the Pocket Places Project, a part of the Greater Victoria Placemaking Network which is behind the libraries.
The 700th Little Free Library (LFL) will be named “Kiddo Library” and specializes in sharing children’s books.
“LFLs are these little whimsical additions to the neighbourhood and you can see so much joy in a kid’s face when they see a LFL. They always run to it, open it up, look for books, and there are never enough children’s books,” says Phelps Bondaroff.
Kolby Gasko is a local carpenter behind the new LFL. “When first getting the idea to build our library, I had no idea that there were that many in town. We just wanted to add a little something to the neighbourhood. When the Placemaking Network reached out to tell us our library was this milestone it was pretty exciting,” Gasko says.
There were many children’s books in Gasko’s house that needed a home, which is part of the reason for the kids’ theme and his son had a role to play in developing the LFL. “Like most of the little projects I build around the house, my four-year-old son, Wolf, is pretty involved in the design. So we drew it together and built it with scrap lumber we had around. Also, Wolf and a friend painted the outside.”
Gasko adds, “it’s nice to be able to give something back to Vic West, which is such a fun place for families. Also being able to get more books into kids’ hands in our community really feels rewarding. Also meeting new neighbors is always great.”
The neighbourhood will gather at 448 Wilson St. at noon on July 30 for the ribbon cutting of the 700th LFL.
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