Win Prizes, Find Deals at the Library in September

By Elizabeth Ruen
Publications Associate

September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month and for library card holders that means money saving deals around town and a chance to win prizes at the library! The Rapid City Public Library has several incentives to encourage people in the community to sign up for a library card, renew their library card and show their library card off around town.

During the month of September people who sign up for or renew a library card will be entered in a prize drawing. This year’s grand prize is a refurbished iBook donated by Computer Village! Other prizes include: tickets to the Black Hills Community Theater productions of “Always, Patsy Cline,” “A Christmas Carol,” or “Almost, Maine”; a membership to the Dahl and tickets to The Goods; tickets to a Rapid City Rush hockey game; tickets to the Elks Theater; a basket of books from the Library; passes to The Journey Museum; or a bike from the Yellow Bike Program.

Several local businesses will be partnering with the library to offer library card holders discounts and special offers for showing their card. Show your library card at these businesses: Buffalo Wings and Rings for $1 off any express lunch; Bully Blends for 10 percent off Fair Trade bulk coffee or loose tea; Paws & Mt. Rushmore Birds for 10 percent off most items; Museum of Geology for 10 percent off at the museum store; Perk It Up at the Library for 10 percent off a 12 oz. or 16 oz. hot drink; and Philly Teds for $1 off your purchase.

Across the nation, libraries will be promoting library card sign up month with the slogan “The Smartest Card: Get It, Use It, @ Your Library!” It’s the smartest card for a lot of reasons. It provides to a wide spectrum of reliable information resources, and for the value it provides to every card holder. When people can borrow rather than buy books and movies, download audiobooks and eBooks, and take advantage of a wide variety of programs and events for every age group, that makes their library card a valuable asset. Residents of Rapid City and Pennington County may get a library card with no annual fee. To see what a library card can do for you, visit www.rapidcitylibrary.org .

September also means the start of the Lunch and Learn and Community Voices series at the downtown Library. The Community Voices lecture series on Thursday, Sept. 2 at 6:30 p.m. is titled “Preserve Your Harvest.” Master gardeners Sheila Hillberry and Tammy Glover will show attendees how to preserve, dry and can garden produce as well as make sauerkraut. There will be time for attendees to ask questions.

The Lunch and Learn series kicks off with Julie Smoragiewicz, founder of Dakota Thyme, talking about her passion for cooking and demonstrating recipes on Wednesday, Sept. 15 at noon. Smoragiewicz will demonstrate how to make the foods she is catering for lunch including a salad, bread and dessert. If you plan to attend and would like lunch, please RSVP by noon on Monday, Sept. 13 by calling 394-4171.