The remodeling of Hood’s library and the pandemic have kept the community from one of its most anticipated annual traditions: celebrating Shakespeare’s birthday.
“The late dean of Academic Affairs, Tom Samet, used to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday by getting a birthday cake every April and people would stop by for a slice of cake and perhaps a chat,” said Library Director Toby Peterson.
“He was married to the library director at the time, Jan Samet,” Peterson said. “After Tom’s passing, Jan thought it would be a good idea to combine that tradition with the library book sale so that we can recognize both and keep that tradition going.”
This tradition went on for 14 years, until the 2018-2019 school year when the remodeling of the library began.
“We’re excited to bring this back because we haven’t done it for three years,” Peterson said.
In honor of Samet’s long-standing tradition, there will be cake and coffee served as long as supplies last, on April 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“We try to do it around Shakespeare’s birthday which is most commonly celebrated on April 23 every year,” Peterson said. “No one really knows when he was born, but they had a record of his baptism which was the 26th, so they’re kind of guessing it was about three days prior.”
The event will also have games, prizes, a blackout poetry competition and a book sale. Hardcover books will cost $1 and paperbacks 50 cents.
The sale will consist mostly of popular fiction, but also a variety of other works including art, how-to books, jigsaw puzzles and more.
“We get a lot of books by donation every year, which is wonderful and we’re really thankful when people think of the library during their spring cleaning and when going through their bookshelves,” Peterson said.
Books will continue to be sold at the library for a week after the event.
“I like seeing the library full of people, and this is usually one of our biggest outreach events of the year,” Peterson said.
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