Tickets are available at the library for the Duck Derby, to be held at 3 p.m. May 13 this year, at Popp Park boat launch on Route 208 (next to Stewart’s).

Ticket buyers “adopt” a duck ($5 for one and $25 for a six quack), enter their adoptees in the May 13 race on the Wallkill River, and see if their duck is the winner! Ticket numbers correspond to the ducks’ numbered labels, so if you have ticket number 500 and duck number 500 wins, so do you! First prize is $500; second is $250; and third is $100. Sales benefit the Wallkill Senior High School’s graduating class.

The event is sponsored by Vision of Wallkill and the Wallkill High School Senior Celebration – details and rules are available on their Facebook pages.

Tickets will be on sale at the library through May 11. If available, ducks can also be adopted the day of the race for cash sales, only. 

The library will have a table at the Duck Derby, as well – so if you know anyone in need of a library card, send them our way!

For tickets or more information, you can call or text VOW at 845-325-2329 or the Senior Celebration at 845-728-0606.  

You might already know that the library has the following museum passes available for our borrowers:

• Museum Village
• Storm King Art Center
• Mohonk Preserve
• New York State Empire Pass
• Boscobel House and Gardens
• FDR Library and Museum
• Hudson Highlands Nature Museum
• Hudson River Maritime Museum

But did you know that you have access to more museum passes on our website? 

Thanks to the generosity of the Ulster County Legislature, Ulster County Libraries, and Friends of the Library groups, there are additional passes you can print from home by visiting the Ulster County InfoPortal on the library’s website. Patrons must be age 18 years or older, with a valid library card in good standing. These passes can be reserved up to 30 days in advance and do not need to be returned to the library.

You’ll find passes to the following attractions:

• Bethel Woods Museum (Bethel)
• FDR Library and Museum (Hyde Park)
• Destroyer USS Slater (Albany)
• Hudson Highland Nature Museum & Grasshopper Grove (Cornwall-on-Hudson & Cornwall)
• Hudson River Maritime Museum (Kingston)
• MiSci Museum of Innovation and Science (Schenectady)
• NY Transit Museum (Brooklyn)
• Olana State Historic Site (Hudson)
• Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome (Red Hook)
• Opus 40 Sculpture Park (Saugerties)
• Thomas Cole National Historic Site (Catskill)

Now that the weather is getting nicer, you can spend some time off exploring some of these local attractions!

If your student is in need of homework help or exam prep from an expert tutor, you’ll be able to find one on the library’s website, soon!

Tutor.com, an online one-on-one tutoring service, will be available in May. There, K-12 students, as well as college and adult users, will be able to find help with more than 100 subjects, including AP courses. Writing reviews and assistance for job seekers will also be available.

We’ll be sure to keep you posted on when the service will be officially available! Stay tuned!

The Wallkill Public Library's Spring Tiny Art Show will be on display through May 1 in the library. Stop in and check out the amazing creativity of our patrons, young and not so young! Be sure to vote for your favorite each time you visit. The mini masterpiece with the most votes will win an art kit!

Book Bingo is in full swing!

It's not too late to get in on the game! Spring 2023 Adult Book Bingo cards are available at the library circulation desk. For each challenge square you complete, you will receive one raffle ticket to be entered into a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card. Earn extra tickets by completing a BINGO (across, down or diagonal rows) or by completing a "blackout" (all squares). All cards must be turned in by May 15, 2023. The drawing will be held and the winner will be notified on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. Good luck to all!

The library’s Fiction Club will be reading and discussing Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent, for their April meeting.

Sarah Perry's award-winning novel, is set at the end of the nineteenth century and inspired by true events.

Moving between Essex and London, myth and modernity, Cora Seaborne's spirited search for the Essex Serpent encourages all around her to test their allegiance to faith or reason in an age of rapid scientific advancement. At the same time, the novel explores the boundaries of love and friendship and the allegiances that we have to one another. (Goodreads.com)

The Fiction Club will be meeting on Thursday, April 27, at 6:30 p.m. at the library. 

Applications are now available for Ulster County’s Summer Youth Employment Program!

To be eligible for the program, applicants must be between 14 and 20 years old, live in Ulster County, and meet income guidelines. Proof of family income must be included with your application packet.

Those interested can apply from now to May 19. For an application or for more information, visit ulsterworks.com or call 845-340-3170.

Wet Felted Soap

Friday, April 28, 4:00 PM

Add splashes of colored wool around a new bar of soap. Then wet, rub and get sudsy while the wool shrinks around it, creating a unique, colorful and useful bar. Hands-on fun!

Ages 5+, teens and adults. Registration required.

Every Wednesday at 1 p.m. and Thursday at 6 p.m. the library hosts our Mahjong Clubs. If you’re a player or just interested in learning, join us! We supply the games and (a limited number of) 2022 cards. Just drop in, no registration required.

Calling all board game enthusiasts! Come in, bring a friend, or play your fellow patrons. We will have a variety of games available, including Scrabble, Risk, Stratego, chess, Tokaido, Sheriff of Nottingham, and Mysterium. Ages 13+, adults welcome. Registration required.

Our next board game night is April 25 from 6:00-7:30 PM.

Coloring pages are no longer just for children! Join us for this creative and relaxing hobby. Just drop in, registration not required. Bring your own materials or use ours.

Coloring Club meets on Tuesday evenings at 6:00-8:00 PM.

Grab a project and come enjoy the craft of your choice, whether it's knitting, crocheting, diamond painting, coloring, embroidery, or cross stitch!

Adult Crafting meets on Thursday afternoons between 2:00-5:00 PM.

April showers bring… more fun and learning in the Children’s Room!

At our most recent pop-up program, special guest Jerry Schneider shared some amazing samples of, and facts about, pollinators - did you know that some bats around the world are pollinators? An example is the “flying fox” bat, which has a wing span of 6 feet! 

Mr. Jerry then led us in a shirt-decorating craft - we used items from nature, as well as silhouettes of some of our favorite pollinators, like butterflies and dragonflies!

Saturday, April 15 at 11:00 a.m

For our next pop-up program on Saturday, April 15th, Miss Susan is back, this time for a spring-themed session of yoga, music, and movement for children. Join us by registering here:

In celebration, share your favorite poets and/or poems (including your own!) for a chance to win a Magnetic Poetry set! You can submit your entries in the designated area of the Children's Room or email them to Miss Michelle at mgreco@rcls.org. Share as often as you’d like, through the month of April. There will be a random drawing during the first week of May.

At STEM, we launched marshmallow Peeps with our homemade catapults and we did a cool jelly bean color experiment. 

• Our doors are open for library services including browsing for library materials, making copies, sending faxes, and using the public access computers.
• Our bookdrop is open for contact-free and after-hours returns of library materials. Be sure to secure DVD and BCD cases with rubber bands.
• Curbside delivery of pre-ordered items is available by request. Call the circulation desk at 845-895-3707 to make a pick-up appointment.
• Fine-free returns on everything, except museum/park passes.
• Inter-library loans are available between all RCLS libraries.
• Online programming, with materials necessary for crafts available for pickup at the library.
• In-person programming, with appropriate social distancing.
• Museum passes are available to Wallkill Public Library patrons for Boscobel House and Gardens, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum, Empire Pass, Hudson Highlands Nature Museum, Hudson River Maritime Museum, Mohonk Preserve, Museum Village, and Storm King Art Center. Plus, more print-at-home museum passes available through the Ulster County InfoPortal on the library’s website.
• We are not accepting any donations of books or DVDs at this time.