Silly Sidewalk Obstacle Course

July 30, 2020

By Rebecca Campbell, Library Director, Tavares (Fla.) Public Library

The goal of the Silly Sidewalk Obstacle Course is to provide a sense of liberation and fun while emphasizing the importance of wellness during these unprecedented COVID-19 times.

Upon completion of the course, patrons can enter the library and salute the librarians to be entered in a raffle for a silly prize. Our obstacle course has proven to be popular among all age groups in the community.

Audience

Children / Family

Popular Topics

Social-distancing programs

Health and Wellness

Budget

Free

Details

Advance Planning

The consensus was to create self-directed outdoor programs. Marli Lopez, our reference librarian, designed a 126-foot course outside the library consisting of bunny hops, singing and skipping.

Marketing

The obstacle course was promoted on both our Facebook and Instagram pages. The first promotional video received over 700 engagements.

Budget Details

Day-of-event Activity

At the beginning of each day, library staff places signage next to the sidewalk encouraging patrons to complete the course.

Program Execution

Patrons are making special trips to the Tavares Public Library just for the sidewalk course. It's bringing much happiness to our little town, and we have been getting some great feedback.

We track the number of participants who enter the raffle upon completion of the course so we have a rough estimate of how many people have interacted with it.

Advice

We have found that off-brand duct tape does not work as well as Duck Tape brand tape on city sidewalks; the adhesive does not adhere to the sidewalk as well.

Making letters is not as simple as one would think, and scissors gum up and become unusable after only a few snips, so it’s better to tear the tape by hand or use a box cutter.

We also learned that ants are very curious. They were investigating the tape and had to constantly be brushed out of the way while creating the course.

About Library

Kids jumping through the sidewalk obstacle course.

Library Name

Tavares Public Library

Location

Tavares,

Fla.

Library Type

Public

Library Description

The city of Tavares is the county seat of Lake County, Fla., and is located in the central portion of the state, roughly 45 minutes northwest of Orlando. Historically, this county has been mainly agricultural, growing citrus and vegetables. Although not the largest Lake County city, Tavares is centrally located and has a growing population of 15,000. The City of Tavares Public Library is a participating member library of the Lake County Library System. Located in downtown Tavares, the library neighbors the Lake County administrative buildings and serves hundreds of county employees in addition to the city’s service area of 15,000. The Tavares Public Library has 10, 000 library cardholders. During 2018-2019, the library offered 398 library programs with an attendance rate of 12,527. Circulation for 2018-2019 was 10,994. The Tavares Public Library is staffed with 7.5 employees.

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Silly Sidewalk Obstacle Course

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