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Beach Buddy Program brings reading lakeside

Beach Buddy Program is run through the Sylvan Lake Municipal Library during the summer months
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What could be better than lounge lakeside with a good book? Just about nothing, according to many staff members at the Sylvan Lake Municipal Library.

However, a lot of people don’t think about bringing a book until they have already staked out their spot along the lake. This is why the staff at the library have been bringing books to the beach for the last couple years through the Beach Book Buddies program.

“It was dreamt up by staff a few years ago to spread the love of reading,” said Maddie Anderson, marketing coordinator at the library.

A wagon full of a variety of books - spanning multiple genres and age ranges - is pulled down to the lake roughly five times a week to bring the comfort of reading under the summer sun directly to the beach.

Vincent Stoesz is the summer student responsible for taking the book wagon down to the beach. He says he tries to you once every afternoon Tuesday to Saturday, depending on the weather.

Stoesz says everyone has been really excited and receptive to the program.

“If I had a dollar for every time someone told me what a good idea this was, I would be able to fund renovations to the library,” Stoesz said.

Despite being around for a few years now, the Beach Buddy Program is still a bit of a mystery to many, both visitors and locals alike.

Many people are a little confused when Stoesz strolls along the lake with a wagon full of books, he said. Though after a brief explanation many are smiling as they accept a new book.

Anderson says the program is more than just books, it is a form of outreach.

“It shows the library isn’t just here in the building. We go out and bring literacy and the love of reading to others,” she said.

The books are free to those looking for new beach-side reading material, though donations are always “greatly appreciated.”

For Stoesz, whose favourite part of the program is interacting with people by the lake and talking about books, the program is both “unique and incredible.”

“I don’t know of anywhere else that is doing something like this,” Stoesz said. “I think it really shows the importance of the library.”

The Beach Buddy Program runs until the end of the summer season, roughly another two weeks, before Stoesz goes back to school.