Red Brick Fridays are coordinated by the City of Oxford and started during the pandemic as a way to help local businesses and provide a way for people to gather uptown. Seth Cropenbaker, an economic development specialist with the city, helps coordinate the events each summer. Books on the Bricks is the first Red Brick Friday event of its kind, and Cropenbaker said the community it’s shaping up to be a success.
“This is the first time we’ve run this one,” Cropenbaker said. “I will say that this is the event that in the lead up has received the most accolades from community partners, the most excitement from regular members of our community ... If we’re going to get into a tradition on any of these, this might be the first annual Books on the Bricks.”
Rebecca Smith, branch manager of the Oxford Lane Library, said the library is bringing out its “Book Bike,” a bike with a trailer full of children’s books attached. Staff from the library will also lead activities for kids, including crafts. Around the park, she said they’ll have different blankets set up for kids to borrow a book to read.
“It’s a great opportunity to connect with the community through literacy and just be outside,” Smith said. “We love the idea of going to the community as opposed to the community always coming to us.”
Beyond providing live music and a chance for people to add to their personal libraries, Books on the Bricks coordinators will also be accepting donations for back-to-school supplies for kids. Jennifer Marston, a member of the Kiwanis Club of Oxford, said the donations will help the organization with its Back-to-School Bash Aug. 13.
Marston said the Back-to-School Bash will bring together a number of organizations including the Oxford Family Resource Center, the Talawanda Oxford Pantry and Social Services, Thread Up Oxford and more to help connect families with resources and assistance ahead of the school year starting. For Kiwanis, that help comes in the form of school supplies and backpacks including those donated at the Books on the Bricks Event, while other organizations will provide clothing, food and help families apply for other forms of assistance.
The bash will even feature food and some fun elements, too. Marston said the Oxford community pool will be open for three hours of free swimming, and there will also be inflatables to play on. Parents can also bring their kids for free haircuts to send them to school looking their best.
“You get all kinds of things available to you, but you can also talk to people about things in the community that you might not be aware of if you need services,” Marston said, “especially in a time after COVID where people might be in a position that they’ve never been in before where money is tighter than it’s ever been.”
The Back-to-School Bash will be 5:30-8:30 p.m. Aug. 13 at the Oxford Aquatic Center and Community Park.
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