WALLINGFORD — The Wallingford Public Library is hosting an early childhood education and information fair on Feb. 4
The event is co-sponsored by Wallingford Early Childhood Resource Education (WECARE), and will take place from 10 a.m. to noon inside the community room. It’s an opportunity for families to familiarize themselves with the childcare provided in town.
Wallingford’s preschools, licensed child care centers, and town services will be present at the event.
“The event started way before I started at the library which was 12 years ago,” said Kari Hamad, head of children’s services at the Wallingford Public library. “So I would like to say that this started around 15 years ago.”
The event began as a one-stop shop for families who were looking to send their child to preschool the following fall but it soon expanded.
Now, the event includes resources for families who are looking into childcare in general, or who are looking to find out what’s going on in town. “As a parent, maybe you just moved into town with your young child, and you don’t know what programs are being offered. This would be a great place to start,” Hamad said.
The Wallingford Health Department, the Wallingford Fire Department, the Wallingford Police Department, 2-1-1, and the Spanish Community of Wallingford are some organizations that will be participating in the event.
According to Acting Fire Marshal Brian Schock, the fire department will be displaying a fire truck outside the library. “We’ll be having the fire truck on scene with a full crew in order to demonstrate the equiptment to the kids,” he said. “We will also be uniform so that we can show kids to not be afraid of us.”
Inside, the department will have a table set up with fire prevention equiptment such as smoke alarms, in order to inform parents and guardians. In addition, the crew will inform attendees about the Wallingford Youth Fire Prevention & Intervention Program.
“This program is for youth, under the age of 18 who have been involved in a fire incident,” Schock said.
Usually held at the end of January, the event will be held on Feb. 4 because it aligns with Connecticut’s 12th annual Take Your Child to the Library Day. “So it ties in nicely with our programming that we have going on,” Hamad said.
In addition to the fair, the library will have fun activities for the children such as face painting and tattoo stations in the Wonder Room. A family story time will be taking place at 10:30 a.m. and children will be able to grab a free book. “The Connecticut Science Center will be coming and they’ll be setting up a table in the Children’s Room where they’ll have a little activity going on,” Hamad said.
Last year, the event was delayed due to the spike in COVID-19. “We weren’t able to do in person programs in January last year so we pushed it back and I think people were too nervous with COVID to come out,” Hamad said. “So we hope that having both events on the same day will bring in more attendance.”