Thomaston Public Library is thrilled to be starting our sixth year of 40 Days of Summer this month!

Conceived by a group of volunteers in 2014, this program was begun to address the lack of a summer food program for the school children of Thomaston and surrounding communities. Because of the percentage of children receiving free or reduced lunches in Thomaston, we are able to take advantage of the Federal Summer Food Service program. In an effort to make this more than a "bag lunch" pick-up, activities are central to the program.

We enjoy lively playground games, books being read, and rich programming from talented community members as well as visits from Chewonki Foundation, Sparks Ark Wildlife Rescue, Northern Stars Planetarium, Pope Memorial Animal Shelter, and STEM experts.

Each year the program has evolved and welcomed new and exciting events including a series of programs last year by our local Coast Guard featuring an incredible helicopter landing!

This year we celebrate William and Alice Dashiell, who have been incredibly generous in sponsoring the program and have also given of their time and energy in many ways. 40 Days of Summer has also received support by The Friends of Thomaston Public Library, local community groups, grants, and donations from friends.

This summer our plethora of activities begins on June 24. The program, which is free to all children who have completed Kindergarten, runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday (off on July 4th) and includes many activities, plenty of outdoor games, art and books, science, lots of healthy snacks and lunch. Children can attend for one day or all 40. 

Our website, thomaston.lib.me.us, has lots of information available, including:

Registration Forms Available
Advance registration is not required, but it will speed up check-in on the first day your child attends! Forms are available at the library, or you can click here to fill out the form online. If you choose the online form, we'll have it printed out and ready for you to sign at check-in on the first day. If you have more than one child attending, please fill out one form for each of them.

Tentative Schedule
We're waiting for confirmation of dates of a few of our outside presenters, but we have a tentative schedule available on our website as well! Please note that some activities are weather-dependent, so we may have to postpone or change some activities in case of rain. Movies, legos, and board games are all possible rainy day activities.

Summer Reading
We're wrapping up our 40 Days of Summer program with an End of Summer Party as usual, but this year we're adding a fun new summer reading incentive – Dunk the Librarian! We're getting a dunk tank, and staffers Caroline and Toby have volunteered to be dunked!

For every 15 minutes a child reads and tracks this summer, they will earn a chance to take aim and potentially dunk the librarian. We'll have summer reading logs available at the library by the start of 40 Days and kids will be able to turn them at the end of summer for dunk tank tickets. 

Frequently Asked Questions and Community Rules

We have an FAQ for parents and the community rules we provide the kids on their first day. If you have any questions these don't address, please feel free to contact us at the library at (207) 354-2453 or caroline.wardnesbit@thomaston. lib.me.us