Continues February 10th & March 10th: Memory cafés are essentially social gatherings where individuals with memory impairment and their adult caregivers come together in a supportive environment, share conversation over a cup of coffee, or participate in fun, simple activities with the group. It’s an opportunity to meet with others for support, companionship and fun!
The programming provides structured activities to promote reminiscing, cognition, and engagement for those with dementia, while offering caregivers an opportunity to make new friends and build strong, supportive, social connections.
This free series is offered in partnership with the Library, Ridgefield Parks & Recreation and Ridgefield Station Assisted Living & Memory Care and will be held on the second Monday of the month in January, February and March from 10:00 am to 11:30 am in the Charter Oak Room at the Ridgefield Recreation Center. Caregivers and their loved ones should both register for and plan to attend all three dates to allow for continuity and a more personalized experience.
Registration is available online, in person at the Ridgefield Recreation Center, or by calling 203.431.2755 (press 1).
Click here to learn more.
CANCELLED–Thursday, February 6th @ 6:00 pm: Students in grades K-8 are invited to join New York Times bestselling author Maria Scrivan as she shares her inspiration for the beloved Nat Enough series through childhood art, photos and stories. Come hear about Maria’s own struggles with not fitting in, her love of cartooning at an early age and her strategies for moving through doubt and fear. Young writers and readers will learn more about her creative process along with the tools and materials she uses to create each book. Registration is encouraged but drop-ins are welcome as space permits.
Books on the Common will have copies of her books available for sale and signing. This program is co-sponsored by the Ridgefield Council of PTA’s Young Writers Conference.
RESCHEDULED Sunday, February 2nd @ 2:00 pm: Throughout her long and storied life, Rachel “Bunny” Mellon’s greatest passion was garden design. She and her husband, Paul Mellon, one of the wealthiest men in America, maintained homes in New York, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Antigua and Upperville, Virginia. Bunny designed beautiful gardens at all of her homes, and she also designed gardens for some of her dearest friends, including the Rose Garden and the East Garden at the White House (at the request of President Kennedy), and the gardens at both the Paris home and the château of couturier Hubert de Givenchy.
This fascinating program is presented by Jennifer Yates, an experienced and award-winning landscape designer with a gift for color and structure for creating harmonious landscape designs.
Click here to learn more and register.
Saturday, February 1, 2025: Families with children are invited to Take your Child to the Library for a day of Library joy, button-making from 12-1pm and a scavenger hunt. With the inspiration of the Children’s Mural art by Cynthia Meyers, we welcome special guest Doug Salati alongside our ROAR therapy dogs, Pistachio the Rooster, and BenAnna Band. To register or for more information, visit the event page.
10:30-11:00 am: Family Storytime with Doug Salati | Families with children of all ages are invited to celebrate Take Your Child to the Library Day with a storytime featuring our special guest, Doug Salati, author and illustrator of the 2023 Caldecott award-winning book Hot Dog. Come talk, read, play, move, and sing together in this celebration of Library Joy!
11:15-11:45 am: Hot Dog Cart Art | Register to visit the Hot Dog Art Cart with Doug Salati to customize your own weiner dog inspired by the art in Hot Dog, Doug Salati’s Caldecott Award-winning picturebook. There will not be food served at this event. Registration strongly encouraged.
11:30 am-12:30 pm: Read to ROAR | Children entering grades 1-4 enhance their oral reading skills by reading to trained therapy dogs from ROAR Ridgefield. Time slots will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. Please bring a favorite book to read or pick one out in the library before your session. Registration is required.
1:00-2:00 pm: Play Pokemon with Pistachio the Rooster | Ridgefield Library’s very own Pistachio the chicken is teaming up with Pokémon Players Club for a special event. Join Pistachio as he learns how to play the Pokemon TCG and makes Pokémon crafts. Beginners and experts alike are welcome to attend. A very special “Pistachio ex Pokémon Card” will be distributed at the event. Don’t miss your chance to own this special limited edition card! What a great way to kick off the month of “love” by sharing it with Pistachio, Pokémon Players Club and, of course, the Ridgefield Library.
2:00-2:45 pm: BenAnna Band Family Concert | BenAnna Band is a nationally touring children’s band that focuses on music and inclusion for kiddos of all ages, abilities and identities. This family-friendly, interactive concert will give you a chance to dance, sing and play along with Ben and Anna at the Library! This program engages both the caregiver and the child together, so all attendees should expect to participate. Registration is encouraged but drop-ins are welcome as space permits.
January 2-28, 2025: Professors Mike & Kristin need your help! They have recently uncovered information about a new psychic type Pokémon found only at the Ridgefield Library! The Pokémon’s name is “Readmorasaur.” In order to tell the world about this unique discovery, they need your help to create a new TCG card for the Readmorasaur. Win a prize pack of Pokémon cards and accessories. Pick up an Entry form from the Children’s Services Desk. Submissions will be accepted January 2-28. Winner Announced: February 1, 2025 during Take Your Child to the Library Day. Pokémon Players Club meets on Tuesdays at 4:30 pm. Visit our Event Calendar to register.
Thursday, January 30th @ 7:00 pm: Author Dan Slater will discuss his new novel, a harrowing tale of early 20th-century New York reveals the true stories of an immigrant underworld, a secret vice squad and the rise of organized crime. In this mesmerizing and atmospheric account, drawn from never-before-seen sources and peopled with unforgettable characters, Slater tells an epic and often brutal saga of crime and redemption, exhuming a buried history that shaped our modern world.
Click here to learn more and register.
Wednesday, January 22nd @ 1:00 pm: Join RVNAhealth’s Susan DiGregorio, M.A. CCC-SLP, for an engaging discussion on aging and brain health. In this informative session, you’ll discover the key risk factors associated with cognitive decline and learn how lifestyle choices and environmental influences can impact your brain function as you age. Susan will also share practical, evidence-based strategies to help you proactively protect your brain health and boost memory function. This is a great opportunity to gain valuable insights and actionable steps that can enhance your cognitive wellness and overall quality of life.
Don’t miss out on this chance to equip yourself with knowledge that can make a meaningful difference in your health journey!
Click here to learn more and register.
Wednesday, January 22nd @ 7:00 pm: Join Sasco River Center Co-Director Dr. Chris Bogart to:
1.Understand executive function skills and why they matter;
2. Take home strategies to help foster their development;
3. Learn about importance of frustration tolerance and ways to help your kids strengthen this essential skill.
This program is sponsored by Project Resilience, Ridgefield Library, Ridgefield Public Schools, Ridgefield PTAs, Ridgefield Youth Commission and Books on the Common.
Click here to learn more and register.
Monday, January 20, 2025: Families with children of all ages are invited to celebrate MLK Day with an act of community service.
10:30-11:00 am: MLK Day Family Storytime Families with children of all ages are invited to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday with a special storytime. Immediately following storytime, families can join our community service project making a birthday craft for Meals on Wheels of Ridgefield.
11:00 am-12:00 pm: Meals on Wheels Service Families with children of all ages are invited to celebrate MLK day with an act of community service. We’ll be decorating bags and crafting special birthday gifts to donate to Ridgefield’s Meals on Wheels. Drop in after All-Age Storytime to help us honor Dr. King’s birthday!
2:00-2:45 pm: ROAR Service Students in Grades K-5 are invited to celebrate MLK Day with acts of service for the Ridgefield community. We’ll meet a volunteer team from ROAR and hear about the important ways therapy dogs help members our community. Then we’ll work together to make cat toys and decorate adoption folders to donate back to ROAR. Registration required.
4:30-5:30 pm: MLK Birthday Boxes Students in Grades K-5 are invited to celebrate MLK Day with acts of service for the Ridgefield community. We’ll meet local student Ruby Weiner and learn more about her service projects, including Ruby’s Little Pantries, small structures that hold food free to those who need it. In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday, we’ll assemble Birthday Boxes to donate to the five Ruby’s Little Pantries locations across town. Registration is required.
Thursday, January 16th @ 7:00 pm: Join us as we welcome author Jean Hanff Korelitz, who has followed her New York Times bestseller The Plot with an equally captivating new novel, The Sequel:
Anna Williams-Bonner has taken care of business. That is to say, she’s taken care of her husband, bestselling novelist Jacob Finch Bonner, and laid to rest those anonymous accusations of plagiarism that so tormented him. Now she is living the contented life of a literary widow, enjoying her husband’s royalty checks in perpetuity, but for the second time in her life, a work of fiction intercedes, and this time it’s her own debut novel, The Afterword. After all, how hard can it really be to write a universally lauded bestseller?
With her signature wit and sardonic humor, Jean Hanff Korelitz gives readers an antihero to root for while illuminating and satirizing the world of publishing in this deliciously fun and suspenseful read.
Books on the Common will have copies for sale and signing.
Click here to learn more and to register.