RUMFORD – Plans for Rumford Public Library’s 28th annual Summer Fest are nearly complete. Over the past 27 years, thousands of youngsters have taken part in the Summer Fest activities and reading programs.

This year’s four week schedule of daily events will begin on Monday, July 6, and continue through Friday, July 30. The program is open to all area youngsters free. It will include magic, crafts, picnics in the park storytimes and theatrical productions.

Over the four weeks the library will be visited by several special people from the community who will share their talents and interests with the children.

The reading program, which runs from Sunday, June 27, through Saturday, July 24, is a major component of the annual Summer Fest event. This year’s theme is “Discover New Trails @ Your Library … Read.” The program encourages independent reading and helps children maintain or enhance their reading skills and vocabulary during the school vacation.

The program is designed not only for children who are independent readers, but also for children who have books read to them by parents, grandparents, siblings or caregivers. All children from preschool through age 14 are invited to participate. Reading dates are from Sunday, June 27, through Saturday, July 24.

Children are to read at least five days a week for a length of time determined by the child’s age. Books read must be from the Children’s Room and should be appropriate to the child’s age and reading level.

Each week that a child meets the reading goal, he will receive a sandwich coupon from Subway. Those who meet the reading goal all four weeks will receive a certificate good for an ice cream treat from Scoops, plus a half-day pass to Big Adventure Center in Bethel.

As an added bonus, those meeting the goal in the first week will qualify for a ticket voucher for the Sea Dogs baseball game on Sunday, July 25. Old Fort Western, the 1754 national landmark fort, store and house historic site in Augusta, will admit summer reading program participants and their immediate family free when they present verification from their library. Visit the Web at www.oldfortwestern.org to see the summer schedule.

New this year, and in keeping with the statewide summer reading theme, the Maine State Parks System is offering “Discover New Trails @ Your Library” Day, with free admission to participants on Aug. 18. Also, readers are invited to attend the summer reading celebration, “Ride the Rails to Reading,” coordinated by the Central Maine Library District, on Aug. 20 at the Boothbay Railway Village on Route 27 in Boothbay.

Summer reading logs with full details about the reading program and the Summer Fest schedule of events are available in the Children’s Room.

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