SN 6.19.2021

The Sun and News, Saturday, June 19, 2021/ Page 7

Farm friends visit summer readers at TK library event

Brett Bremer

Sports Editor

A couple dozen members

of the Thornapple Kellogg

Schools summer childcare

group started their march

from Lee Elementary School

to the high school shortly

before 10 a.m. Thursday to

be the first to run their fin-

gers through the fur and

feathers awaiting outside the

library in Middleville.

Barry County Farm

Bureau and the Hastings FFA

teamed up for an Animal

Friends petting zoo on the

library lawn, with elementa-

ry-aged children flocking to

pet and ask some questions

about a yellow lab, a horse, a

couple chickens, a rabbit, a

couple goats and a small pen

of ferrets that came to visit

for the first TK Community

Library Summer Reading

event of of 2021.

Hastings FFA members

typically are a part of the

Barry County Farm Bureau’s

Ag Awareness Day at the

Barry County Expo Center

with help from the Hastings

Area Schools, the Barry

County MSU Extension and

the Barry County MSUE 4-H

program. The 2020 event,

which typically greets third

grade students from Hastings,

Thornapple Kellogg and

Delton Kellogg schools was

canceled, but FFA members

were able to share their ani-

mals with some Thornapple

Kellogg third graders at Lee

Elementary this spring.

More than one child start-

ed with an apprehensive look

on their face that slowly

melted to joy as Hastings

FFA Advisor Andria Mayack

handed them a ferret to hold.

Fallon the yellow lab got a

lot of hugs as she rested in

the grass. Everyone kept to

the few shady spots on the

lawn throughout the morn-

ing.

Mayack’s “old faithful”

ferret named Ale [pro-

nounced “Al”], was the most

comfortable of the business

being handled by the visitors

to the library program, while

another ferret named White

Claw enjoyed some time

checking out the view from

the top of FFA member Tiago

Coipel’s head.

Coipel was there with his

brother Diego, mother

Heather, a couple goats and

their horse Century who

recently got a mane trim for

the summer.

Coloring, informational

and activity packets were

available to all, with facts

about Michigan agriculture.

Other summer reading

events at the TK library this

summer include a Story

Walk June 22 and 24 during

open library hours, Mini-

Golf in the Library June 29

and July 1, 6 and 8 the Water

Fun with the Thornapple

Township Fire Department

July 15, at 2 p.m. near the

high school’s south parking

lot.

The library’s summer

hours are from 10 a.m. to

6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and

Thursdays.

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Stella Bremer (front right) and Kyla Seifert check out Century, the horse watched by
Heather Copiel during the Animal Friends event at the TK Community Library
Thursday morning in Middleville. (Photo by Brett Bremer)

Oliver Heinz holds on to the ferret named Ale as Finn Heinz checks in out at the

Animal Friends event hosted by the TK Community Library in Middleville Thursday

morning. (Photo by Brett Bremer)

The ferret named White Claw takes a look around from the top of Tiago Coipel’s

head as Coipel and other members of the Hastings FFA share their animals and

expertise at the Animal Friends event at the TK Community Library in Middleville

Thursday. (Photo by Brett Bremer)

Kyla Seifert gets a close look at the chicken named Smokey during the TK
Community Library’s Animal Friends event Thursday on the lawn outside the library in
Middleville. (Photo by Brett Bremer)