Children’s literature   +  a parade in which the kids march  + a GREAT cause  =  The perfect Saturday morning activity for all ages!

The Noyes Children’s Library Foundation is hosting a Storybook Parade through historic Kensington and family fun fair this Saturday, June 12 at 10am- 12pm at the The Noyes Children’s Library.

Let your kids hit the dress-up bin and come as a character from a favorite book. Then join Mother Goose, Fancy Nancy, Little Bo Peep, Raggedy Ann and Andy, Cinderella, Madeleine (and even Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett, county and State politicians, library execs and other important grownups) in a parade through the streets surrounding Noyes Library and the Warner mansion.

After the parade, the fun continues with the The Kensington Volunteer Fire Department and its trucks, music and singalongs with Mr. Gabe, and games and crafts especially for kids hosted by The Noyes Library Foundation. Local children’s authors Ann McCallum (Rabbits, Rabbits Everywhere: A Fibonacci Tale), Jennifer Allison (the Gilda Joyce Psychic Investigator Series), and Jennifer Barrett O’Connell (A Garden of Whales) will also offer the kids readings of their stories after the parade.

The historic Noyes Children’s Library was slated to close July 1 due to county budget constraints, but an agreement this month put off the closing.  The agreement dictates that the Noyes County Library Foundation will raise and grant to the county all the monies that would have been saved by closing the library, about $70,000, in FY11.  (Wow, that’s serious community organizing.)

The Noyes Children’s Library Foundation is a non-profit organization that 

was founded in 1991 by a group of concerned parents and other members of the community when the library was threatened with closure due to county budget cuts.  It raised over $300,000 between 1991 and 1999 in support of the Library.  The Foundation has reactivated its public-private partnership with the County in response to the present budget crisis, and will lead community efforts to raise money in support of the Library and its early literacy initiatives. - NCLF press release

The Noyes Children’s Library is located at 10237 Carroll Place, Kensington, and is open for families to visit and enjoy with their children from 9-5 on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

For more information about the Noyes Children’s Library Foundation, to donate or to volunteer, visit www.noyeslibraryfoundation.org or email the Foundation at info@noyeslibraryfoundation.org.  The press contact is  Kathleen Seiler Neary.

Storybook parade photo courtesy US Army Korea – IMCOM on Flickr via a Creative Commons license, Noyes Library image courtesy MCPL.