Bristol Police Chief Brian Gould joined children and families at the Bristol Public Library Children’s Department on Friday to serve lunch and celebrate summer reading.
“It means the world to me to be here,” said Gould. “It’s the best part of my day. I love the kids and every opportunity that I get to interact with our young friends.”
Dozens of excited children lined up to meet Gould, who handed out police badge stickers to all the young visitors, including twin 4-year-old girls Quinn and Willow Litwinko.
“I met the policeman,” said Willow, “he’s nice.”
“He gave us stickers,” Quinn added.
Kids and teens,18 years and under, received free lunches courtesy of the Free Summer Lunch at the Library program, which ran from June 26 through Aug. 11.
In addition to providing lunches at no cost, the Children’s Department hosted daily events and entertainment throughout the summer, including magicians, jugglers, sing-a-longs, clubs and story time. Friday morning’s event featured a shadow puppet show presented by Nappy’s Puppets.
“There have been so many great programs here all summer,” said Gould. “It’s good to see so many of our young friends reading and having fun at the library.”
Hundreds of Bristol children from different schools throughout the city signed up for the 2023 Summer Reading Program, which concluded on Friday. The young readers who participated in the program will have the opportunity to visit the summer reading store Aug. 14-25 to redeem the reading points that they’ve accrued throughout the summer.
“I read so many books all summer,” said 8-year-old Tyler St. John. “I saw shadow puppets today and I’m going to get another book.”
The Bristol Public Library Children’s Department is open Monday -Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information, visit https://www.bristollib.com.
Laura Bailey can be reached at lbailey@bristoledition.org
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