The joy of rural living can most aptly be summed up with the word “community.”

One of the best things about small-town living is the joy of having a “village” to surround and support families and individuals. At their core, public libraries are about drawing a community together.

They are about providing safe spaces, new ideas and activities, and functioning as a place to gather. This ideal sense of community was displayed recently at the Pilot Rock Public Library.

After not having a consistent preschool in town since the pandemic, the Pilot Rock School District began a program for the 2024–25 school year. Marcy Jerome, a longtime school district employee, stepped up to the plate as the inaugural teacher in the new preschool classroom.

Monica Hoffman, the Umatilla County Special Library District’s Early Literacy Outreach coordinator, was one of the first new connections made between the new preschool and library services. Hoffman spends her days making the rounds to more than 70 preschool classrooms across all of Umatilla County — visiting Head Start preschools, private preschools, in-house and public childcare centers, and libraries delivering story times and book boxes to numerous kids monthly.

In anticipation of summer reading programs that will start in public libraries across the region, and in the spirit of connecting the preschool kiddos and their families to more community resources, Jerome walked her class to the Pilot Rock library to experience “community.” The kids met with library director Susan Price and enjoyed the monthly story time with Miss Monica.

Summer reading

The Pilot Rock library is gearing up for a multitude of activities and do-it-yourself programs to encourage reading (for adults and kids) throughout the summer. There will be a Bookopoly board for older kids and adults, and a simpler board game for the littles to complete by reading a variety of books this summer

Each Wednesday, starting June 18, the library will host games and/or crafts at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

This year’s national summer reading program is “Level Up at your Library.” To go along with this theme, patrons at the Pilot Rock library (and every library across the county) can expect to find excellent programs and activities around games of all sorts.

If you aren’t sure what you or your kids will do to stay busy this summer, be sure to check out the library nearest to you.

Libraries love to create community and would love to welcome you into their space. It’s time to start thinking about summer, and there is no better place to visit (and find community) in the summer than your local library.

Find links to all 12 libraries in Umatilla County at www.ucsld.org.