When I learned about Mario Day on March 10 (Mar 10=Mario) I wanted to do something related to it. Originally we thought of a retro game night with different Nintendo systems. Soon, our program department started spitballing a bigger event.
Every so often our library does bigger youth events for Easter, Christmas, Halloween, etc. where we have several craft stations along with “activity stations." We applied that same type of process for this program. We just had a successful millage increase and I wanted to do a unique, bigger program at the beginning of the year for patrons.
We had our usual flyers around the building, but I also displayed some of the decorations in both our Youth Library and a display case in our Adult section to build interest. Everyone was interested in the props and people were asking about them once they were seen.
Our marketing head went on the local TV station with these props to talk about the event as well. We also did the usual promotion we do for all events with social media posts and a monthly event calendar that is emailed to all patrons before the start of the month.
The budget was not as high as expected as many of the decorations were made with cheaper crafting materials (styrofoam, craft paper, felt, etc). Items we purchased can be found in the Decorations and Activities attachment.
The event took place entirely in our county auditorium. (The actual library meeting room is far too small for the number of activities we created and the people who expressed interest.) Since we are a county library system, we have access to easily reserve the auditorium across the street from our main branch. The event was actually in two rooms. The larger auditorium contained our Mario Kart track along with other activities and a smaller room right across from the auditorium was a dedicated crafting and video game room.
For more details on the following activities, crafts and decorations see the attached write-up.
Video Games:
We set up Mario Kart 8 for the Switch for teens and older kids to play.
Activities:
Crafts:
Decorations:
We set up the space in an attempt to make it flow from one side of the room to another with one activity leading directly into another.Â
There were eight staff members who helped out. We had one staff person at every activity station and a couple in the craft room to mostly monitor the video game system.
We were given helpful feedback from patrons that we will most likely follow through with next year. Patrons recommended some kind of reservation or ticket system for playing the video games. We only had one Nintendo Switch and there was a big backlog of people who wanted to play.
Patrons also recommended reservation “slots” for attendees for the event overall. We had a couple of hundred people right at the start of the event. The event was two hours so having a reservation time slot right at the program start and then another one an hour or 90 minutes later might have helped with the participation congestion at the start. People were afraid of missing out if they came later.
We counted just under 300 people at the event. Many people actually came dressed up in costumes and wanted a costume contest. Others wanted music as background noise. Some patrons recommended big wheels or plasma cars instead of bouncy balls for the Mario Kart. If we move the event to a bigger venue, we will probably follow through with that request and the others.
The program was well received despite some space issues and the problems mentioned can be solved by either doing a better job defining where certain activities start or having a larger location. All in all, a great time was had.
I would recommend having as many staff as possible. Either that or scale back on activities.
Start creating decorations early. While the materials were cheap, putting everything together was time-consuming.
Prepare to have activities for all ages. Mario is popular with younger kids and adults who grew up playing the game.
Patrons celebrated Mario Day on March 10 (Mar10) with plenty of Mario-related games, crafts and a photo booth for kids and teens.Â
Mario Day celebrates the beloved Nintendo character with games and activities at the library.
