FORKS — All aboard for reading at the Forks Library.
Friends of the Forks Library hopes that new equipment the group donated to the library at 171 Forks Ave., will help “train” children to enjoy reading.
The children’s reading area is configured as a brightly-painted wooden train complete with engine and caboose.
It seats six children, Ellen Matheny, treasurer of the Friends of the Forks Library, said Wednesday, before a formal dedication ceremony at the library that afternoon.
Dan Addington of Port Angeles designed and constructed the train, which cost $1,600 to build, Matheny said.
Forks Outfitters’ community rebate program funded the project, a plaque on the train proclaims.
The store’s program gives nonprofit agencies rebates of 1 percent on their purchases, Matheny said.
“Forks Outfitters gives money to a variety of organizations, but often it’s invisible,” she said.
“The Friends wanted to make their contribution tangible.”
The plaque dedicates the new addition to the memory of Ted Bondurant, who died in 2007.
A member of the Friends since it formed in 2003, “He was very passionate about reading and learning, and in particular about children reading and learning,” Matheny said.
“It seemed like the perfect thing.”
Among those attending Wednesday’s ceremony were Mayor Nedra Reed; Paula Barnes, the director of the North Olympic Library System; and Bert Paul, Forks Outfitters owner.
All have hopes that the addition will encourage youngsters to read, Matheny said.
Maybe some will find appropriate reading material, such as The Little Engine That Could, settle into a wooden train seat and tell themselves, “I think I can. . . I think I can. . .”
