Greetings from the Great Bend Public Library! I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and is looking forward to New Year's. We will be closed starting today, Friday, Dec. 30, through Monday, Jan. 2. We will reopen Tuesday, Jan. 3, at our normal time of 9 a.m.

With a new year comes new library events! Next week we hit the ground running with several events to look forward to. Starting on Tuesday you can pick up one of our newest offerings, Spice of the Month. Begin your 2023 trip around the world with your first spice when you pick up a recipe card and enough pre-measured spice to make it, and some interesting facts and history about the chosen January spice. Supplies are limited, so grab yours early.

Our Tech Tuesdays will also continue as usual weekly at 11 a.m. Stumped with a device? This is your chance to come get some one-on-one help.

Thursday we have our first Great Bend Silver Screen Society meeting of the year at 7 p.m. This month’s feature is a biopic about the late editor-in-chief of the French fashion magazine Elle, Jean-Dominique Bauby. After suffering a rare and devastating stroke, Jean finds himself with locked-in syndrome, leaving him completely paralyzed and only able to communicate by blinking his left eye. Jean uses this to painstakingly dictate his memoir. A heartbreaking and beautiful celebration of life and what it means to be alive, this is a film you won’t want to miss.

We have another event for our film lovers on Friday, Jan. 6, at 7 p.m. Our first Adults’ Night Out Movie of the year stars Jennifer Lopez and Owen Willson and follows Kat Valdez as she prepares for her live, on-stage wedding. During the ceremony, she finds out about her fiance’s infidelity, and in a moment of spontaneity, the heartbroken Kat singles out Charlie, a complete stranger in the crowd, and asks him to marry her instead. Now, they must find out together if they can make marriage actually work while navigating the spotlight put on them both by Kat’s fame and their impromptu wedding. The movie is based on a webcomic by Bobby Crosby. Visit our website for more info.

Next Friday is also Casual Game Friday for teens. This month we will be playing Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch. Warm up those button-mashing fingers and get ready to take on friends with a roster of over 50 playable characters from different franchises. Will you leave your opponents in the dust and smash your way to victory, or will you get slammed by your favorite character and go flying off the screen with a flash? Join us at 3:30 p.m. to find out!

You can check out the details of these exciting events and more in our brand-new events catalog filled with info on every library event from January through May. Snag one now so you don’t miss a single event in the new year, or view the digital version on our homepage at greatbendpl.info. For questions about our programming or services, you can message us on Facebook, email us at gbcirc@gmail.com, or give us a call at 620-792-2409. Finally, on behalf of the entire staff, we wish you a very Happy New Year!

Written by Hannah Grippin, the Outreach Manager at the Great Bend Public Library.