1st Annual Reading Festival: Readathon Held at Pritchard Laughlin Civic Center

GUERNSEY COUNTY, Ohio- The popular reading festival that has been going on for over 20 years brought their ‘Readathon’ to Guernsey County today for the first time.

The East Central Ohio Educational Service Center Reading Festival is an annual event that provides books, activities and prizes for children.

Programming manager and communication coordinator at ECO, Sarah Spies said the month of March is ‘Right to Read’ week and it was a perfect time to bring the event to the community. 

“Reading is one of the most important things you can do for a kid, especially as an educator and as a parent. We just wanted to encourage the love of reading very young in the kids of Guernsey County,” Spies stated. “So, we’re just trying to do that by making it fun, giving them more opportunities to find books that they love and making sure that the opportunity is there for them to start reading.”

Spies said community organizations passed out literacy based items, there were book characters like Paddington Bear and more in attendance, but the biggest activity was the book giveaway where children up to eighth grade got a free book. 

Whitney Valentine, a first grade teacher at Rolling Hills Elementary, who was there with her children, talked more on the event and said their favorite activity was the Olympic stand. 

“I think it’s a great event for the family. I think it brings all different age groups together and helps the parents connect with the kids, and the school districts too. I think it’s a good idea,” Valentine said .

Spies gave thanks to all the sponsors and the many families who attended the ‘Readathon’ to make it a success.