A Hazelwood Halloween

“And even should the cloud of barbarism and despotism again obscure the science and libraries of Europe, this country remains to preserve and restore light and liberty to them.”

-Thomas Jefferson

Saturday was a very full and exciting day for the Puppets for Pages team. At noon, we arrived at the Hazelwood library puppets and puppet supplies in hand ready for some fun. The experience we had hugely exceeded any of our expectations.

The Hazelwood library has an annual children’s Halloween party that draws as many as one hundred costumed, book-loving children. Hazelwood is the smallest library we have visited so far, but it is bustling with activity. We chose to kick-off Puppets for Page by joining in the ghoulish fun.

Soon, the children section’s tables were filled with children making library-related art to be shown at our Finale Event.

When not drawing pictures of their favorite activities at the library or sculpting the word “Library” out of pipe cleaners, the eager artists jumped into Flora’s puppet activities. To fit the Halloween theme, she brought supplies for shadow puppets. Each young artist took turns constructing and performing original puppets. One of the fish puppets even read a puppet book!

Flora then performed a spooky trio of stories to end the event. She was especially excited to do her favorite childhood ghost story, the Cajun legend of Joe Bless.

But the event didn’t end there. Due to the amazing efforts of several community organizers, including the Hazelwood Initiative, a rally to save the Hazelwood library happened to be going on at the same time as the Halloween party.

Katrina, Flora and a wily witch puppet managed to catch some of the events and speakers. City councilman Doug Shields, State Senator Dom Costa and even Mayor Ravenstahl gave speeches to the crowd and were kind enough to talk with us about our work.

All in all, the day was an inspiring beginning to the Puppets for Pages journey. We are especially grateful to all of the people whose hard work made the rally possible and whose daily work make the Hazelwood library such an important community resource. Our time spent there only furthers assured us of the importance of keeping every Pittsburgh library open.

View a slideshow of our photos below or look through them with descriptions by clicking here.