Summer Fun Fergus Library

Every summer we put together a checklist of all the fun things we want to do, the aptly named Summer Fun Checklist. It has gotten a little...unwieldy.

The 2018 edition

And while I admit that the number of things still left to complete is giving me mild anxiety, I love the checklist and the way it shapes our summer. 

One item that makes it on the list most years is "explore a small town," so this year we decided to visit lovely Fergus Ontario. My children's priority was ice cream. Mine was finding the library. Neither of us left disappointed.

The Fergus library is housed in a lovely old building right on the main drag, and it looks like it has been renovated fairly recently. We quickly found our way to the children's area, guided by this beacon.

Slightly misleading ice cream statue

We were all a little disappointed that the large cone didn't indicate that the library housed an ice cream bar, but my older daughter was soon appeased by the friend she found.

Puppy hug

Perhaps my favourite feature of the children's area was the large wall-mounted TV screen that was showing a loop of Kitty Party and Puppy Party, which is exactly what you hope it would be. There was also this neat contraption.

Gear city

Soon I convinced everyone to go upstairs to the adult collection (not to be confused with a video store's adult collection), and it felt like I was becoming a member of the finer things club!

Much flowers, such light, finer things!

Not pictured were the plump armchairs facing a fire place, which looked delightfully cozy. But the best was yet to come. At the other end of the building was...

A reading balcony! Overlooking the river! With beautiful Muskoka chairs! By this point my children had become distracted by the Medieval Faire below us, and the prospect of finding ice cream, so I didn't ask if everyone just wanted to stay and read for the next hour (my preference), so off we went to explore the rest of Fergus which happened to include archery, blacksmiths, and medieval cosplay.