Over 20 girls and boys aged 6-10 filled the Middlebury Community House on April 16 for the annual teddy bear tea party. Each child brought a favorite stuffed animal and had tea and sandwiches, crackers with teddy bear cheese cut-outs, Teddy Grahams and mini éclairs. After lunch, the children’s librarian at the Ilsley library Judah Hamer and the assistant children’s librarian Kathryn Laliberte read stories to the children.
The House Director Pat Hornbeck, who has worked at the Community House since 2004, commented that the house’s collaboration with the library helped make the event a success.
“This was my first year since the library has been involved and they were great,” she said.
Hornbeck had been looking for a way to draw more people to the gathering and found that working with the Ilsley library was a good solution.
“We needed to build [the tea party] up a little more and they needed another activity for the library,” she said.
Hornbeck said that the tea parties each year bring more people into the Middlebury Community House and raise awareness that the house is a space that everyone can use.
“We have a great deal of difficulty in getting the knowledge out of what we do,” Hornbeck said.
The Community House hosts a range of events, from weddings to graduation parties to memorial services. Hornbeck commented that the trustees will agree to host anything that is “appropriate to the house’s.”
“So that kind of rules out beer parties,” she laughed.
Trustee of the Community House Lynda Rheaume said the teddy bear tea party is appropriate to the house because of its history.
“Jessica Stewart, the woman who gave the house to the people of Middlebury, said she wanted the house to be used by children, so we try to encourage events where children come,” Rheaume said.
Many girls and a few boys visited the house for the first time for the tea party, making the event a success in Rheaume’s and Hornbeck’s eyes.
Local brief - Children and their teddies partake in tea
Comments
