Haydon, left, and Shepard Wilkinson create garden stones during a past Fantastic Fridays event at the Syracuse Public Library. Photo by Sarah Wright.

News Release

SYRACUSE — Summer reading concludes Friday, July 21, at the Syracuse Public Library. Children and teens must turn in their game cards or reading logs that Friday to receive scratch-offs. Drawings for the raffle prizes will occur the week of July 24.

Children and teens do not need to be present for the drawing; library staff will call the winners. During the week of July 17, children and teens will earn additional scratch-offs by attending programs.

Children will learn about solar oven cooking during the last Make-It Monday at 2 p.m. July 17 in Community Roots. In the event of inclement weather, this project will move to the downstairs meeting room; children will then take marshmallows home to use in their ovens during sunnier weather. At 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 19, younger children, ages birth through five, can attend the last story time of summer. Besides listening to fun stories, children will also make a firefly craft.

Teens can attend a “Jackbox” and “Among Us” party from 2-4 p.m. Monday, July 17. Bring a phone to the party to play along; the library has limited public computers, too. Teens can embrace their creative sides during “Color and Chill” from 4-5 p.m. Wednesday, July 19. The library provides numerous coloring pages for young adults to choose from.

The teen and children’s summer reading programs will hold end of summer reading parties. Teens will have a pizza party from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 20. Teens should sign up at the library or on the digital calendar, https://tinyurl.com/Syracusepublibpizzaparty, so enough pizzas can be ordered.

Meanwhile, children will celebrate the end of summer reading from 12-2 p.m. Friday, July 21. There will be outdoor games, craft stations, balloon animals from noon until 1 p.m. and Sno Cones while supplies last, courtesy of the Knights of Columbus.

Adult Programming

Mahjong continues at 10:15 a.m. on Mondays and at 1 p.m. on Wednesdays in the library’s downstairs meeting room. Players of all skill levels — including those wanting to learn how to play — are welcome to attend each session.

The Workshop, the library’s adult writing group, will meet at 1 p.m. Tuesday, July 18, in the downstairs meeting room. Bring a piece to share or come to listen to others read. There are usually writing-related discussions, too.

Start your Thursday mornings off right with chair yoga. Michelle Parker leads these low-impact sessions at 9:30 a.m. each Thursday in the downstairs meeting room. Since this program occurs before the library opens, knock on the southernmost Harrison Street near the staff parking lot.