Kids swing into new year at Back-to-School Bash

With face painting, mini horses, balloon animals, candy kabobs and backpack branding, this weekend’s western-themed Backto- School Bash corralled lots of local families. The event, which was organized by the Dripping Springs Community Library (DSCL) and hosted by Fitzhugh Brewing, also featured readings by area children’s book authors, as well as a Principals’ Story Time.

Mindy Laird, DSCL Executive Director, said that this is the second year the library has partnered with Fitzhugh Brewing for the event.

“We wanted to just offer the community an opportunity to gather together in one space where we could celebrate the first week and a half of school and just offer some free fun for the community,” Laird said.

Kerbey Smith, owner of Fitzhugh Brewing, said she enjoyed the addition of RED Arena’s mini horses this year, and she also appreciates the author readings.

“I think that is something that’s not really seen that often, and I love that the kids are getting that extra option,” Smith said.

Smith said this event reminds her of the Scholastic book fairs that she loved as a kid. She said she and her family are avid readers, and also feel it’s important to give back to the community.

“We really love supporting local, that’s a huge thing for us. I mean, we’re a mom and pop ourselves, so we love to support other people that are doing the same thing, and especially the nonprofits,” Smith said. “They work tirelessly and thanklessly, and so it’s nice to give back to them and really give back to the community as well.”

Fitzhugh Brewing also donates a portion of the day’s beer proceeds to the library for their capital campaign, which supports the construction of a new, larger library.

Melva Codina, who has served on the DSCL board for 14 years, said that building a new library is an important step for the community.

“First of all, I’m a former English teacher. So books are very important to me,” Codina said. “I think that our library is too small for Dripping Springs, and we need to look ahead and we need to start thinking about building a bigger place for people to come, not just to get books, but you know, we have so many other things to offer in the library.” In addition to all the programs that the library offers, Codina said that many people come to the library with their computers to work or to study. Personally, she enjoys coming to the library to do genealogy research. Even though she has that ability at home, the library’s edition provides access to more data.

“Sometimes when I’m stuck and I can’t get past the brick wall in my genealogy search, I’ll go over there,” Codina said. “If I use the library connection, then I can get more information.”

Codina said she was glad DSCL was hosting the community event.

“This is how people get to know about us,” Codina said. “I’m hoping that turnouts like this will give people the impetus to support our library here.”