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Fergus Falls Reads wraps up [UPDATED]
Published 10:32am Friday, March 2, 2012 Updated 12:34pm Friday, March 2, 2012It’s been quite a month. You’ve read the book, watched the movie and met Mark Twain himself (well, almost).
The Fergus Falls Reads Committee wraps-up its month-long One Book One Community Read of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on Monday, March 5 with a noontime discussion on “Mark Twain and the Civil War.” at the Otter Tail County Historical Museum.
A bit of history — Fergus Falls Reads began in 2002, when Fergus Falls read “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee.
The goal of the Fergus Falls Reads Committee mirrors that of the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read program — to “create a nation of readers.”
In our case, our focus is a bit more local.
The Fergus Falls Reads Committee aspires to create a “community of readers” right here in Fergus Falls. Because, as Mark Twain said, “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”
With the reading of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” the Committee hoped to spark meaningful community-wide discussion centered on this controversial, classic American novel.
As “I Love to Read” month and the Fergus Falls Reads planned events come to a close, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the organizations who helped make Fergus Falls Reads possible — A Center for the Arts, Fergus Falls Community Education, Fergus Falls Public Library and Friends of the Library, Fergus Falls Public Schools, M State-Fergus Falls, Otter Tail County Historical Society, Otter Tail Power Company, Prairie Wetlands Learning Center and The Victor Lundeen Company.
Thanks also to all who participated in Fergus Falls Reads. We had good turnouts at the sponsored events.
Nearly 70 people attended our kick-off event, “An Evening with Mark Twain,” at the Otter Tail County Historical Museum and approximately 100 folks took in the movie at A Center for the Arts this
past weekend. Thanks to all who read, discussed and shared the novel.
We hope to bring Fergus Falls Reads back again in 2013, and are always looking for input. If you’ve read a good book lately that you think would make a good community-wide read, let me know at esmith@fergusfalls.lib.mn.us or 739-9387. Happy Reading.
Erin Smith is the director of the Fergus Falls Public Library.
