FFA and 4-H bring petting zoo to library

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

It was a zoo at the Charles City Public Library as the Wonderful Wednesday program featured a selection of barnyard animals for an afternoon petting zoo.

“It’s always a hit,” said Children’s Librarian Stacey Leerhoff, who counted about 200 attendees. “Kids just love animals.”

From chickens and rabbits to pigs and cows, the library parking lot had a wide range of animals for the kids to get up close with.

While normally the petting zoo is the purview of the FFA students, a busy summer schedule had the group short on hands. To make up the gap, several 4-H members stepped up to make sure there were plenty of animals for the kids to get up close with.

“It’s turned into a good group effort,” said FFA advisor Bret Spurgin.

Another challenge to overcome was the weather as foreboding clouds threatened to rain on the outdoor display.

“For a while I was wondering if we were going to be able to do it,” said Spurgin.

Instead, the warm weather turned out to be a good time to enjoy not only animals, but free ice cream courtesy of the Butler County Dairy Promoters, who volunteered to come up with a soft serve machine and a variety of sprinkles and syrups.

Coming up next week, Wonderful Wednesday continues to go wild with a presentation on birds of prey.