Books will be wheeled across the City of Fernie this summer after the Fernie Library’s official Book Bike launch on Wednesday, June 17.
This summer will mark the Book Bike program’s second year and organizer Anie Hepher said that with additional staffing, the library hopes to bring the bike even further out into the community.
“We have two really amazing summer students with us who will be riding the Book Bike across town and we really look forward to bringing this service to more people in the city,” said Hepher of students Sarah Buchan and Lindsay Snea.
The Book Bike will make weekly tours of Fernie’s trio of seniors’ homes Rocky Mountain Village, Tom Uphill and Trinity Lodge.
There will also be two routeless days for the bike to tour across Fernie for the library to ascertain where its services are needed most.
The Book Bike will make appearances at this summer’s Wednesday Night Socials.
Fundraising for the Book Bike was conducted primarily last year through crowdsourcing website IndieGogo as well as a button campaign.
“We wanted to make sure it was a total grassroots fundraiser. The buy-in was $2 for a button and you could still feel like you were contributing to the bike. It’s a bike that’s for the community and something that’s going into Fernie’s streets and public spaces so we wanted to make sure it was really accessible and grassroots,” explained Hepher.
Hepher added of her idea for the Book Bike, “I think the reason why I thought it would really work in Fernie is because of the prominent biking culture here and how engrained that activity already is in Fernie.”
Fernie Mayor Mary Giuliano was also in attendance of the event and Angie Abdou, head of the library’s board, to address those that gathered for the official launch.
Hepher noted that Judy Little of the Friends of the Fernie Library organization was “instrumental” in the campaign to get the Book Bike onto Fernie’s streets.
A barbecue was offered for all attendees of the Book Bike launch.