Thursday, June 16, Ringgold County Conservation Director “Ranger” Kate Zimmerman gave an excellent program about the prairie to 76 children and adults at the Mount Ayr Public Library. Participants enjoyed feeling bison, wolf, coyote, fox, and rabbit fur. Ranger Kate read a beautiful book, “The Prairie That Nature Built” by Marybeth Lorbiecki. Athena the snake also made a debut at the library and behaved beautifully while being petted by those brave enough to touch her.
Tuesday, June 14, the Science Center of Iowa came to town with a presentation called, “Fireworks” for the summer library program. There weren’t any fireworks but there were plenty of booms and bursts of fire which 103 children and adults enjoyed! Fire needs three elements to burn: oxygen, heat, and fuel. If you take any of these elements away, you will not have a fire or the fire will be extinguished. Several exciting experiments were done to prove this. There was a question and answer time at the end of the program.
The Science Center of Iowa, Blank Park Zoo, and Ranger Kate were sponsored by the Mount Ayr Public Library and were paid for with a local Help Pod grant. The library would like to thank Ringgold Outdoor Alliance for donating the building for the Blank Park Zoo and the Science Center of Iowa to accommodate the large numbers attending these programs.
