May 21, 2024
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Yorkville Storywalk ready with a good read for families

By Mark Foster
Circle Center first-grade student Jade Diaz, 6, reads a book page from the new Yorkville Storywalk on Sept. 27, 2022 in Yorkville Junior Women's Club Park as mother Angie Alaniz and sister Scarlett Diaz, 4, look on.

Circle Center first-grade student Jade Diaz, 6, right, reads a book page at the Yorkville Storywalk on Sept. 27, 2022 in Yorkville Junior Women's Club Park with her mother Angie Alaniz and sister Scarlett Diaz, 4. (Mark Foster)

YORKVILLE – Children and their parents will have a chance to read a good book, meet friends and get some exercise at the second annual Yorkville Storywalk family event from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 20.

Located at Yorkville Junior Women’s Club Park in the Heartland Circle neighborhood at 1267 Taus Circle, the storywalk was developed last year and attracted a large crowd for its inaugural event.

The storywalk was created through a partnership by the Yorkville Educational Foundation, the city of Yorkville Parks and Recreation Department, Yorkville School District Y115, the Yorkville Public Library and the 100+ Women Who Care organization.

The concept behind a storywalk is to display an illustrated children’s book, page-by-page, mounted on posts along a park pathway.

The Yorkville Storywalk is composed of 24 stations, spaced along the entire pathway that encompasses the circular park.

The book pages are mounted on panels supported by steel posts cemented into the ground.

The story boards are about 3 feet from the ground, placing them at eye level for young readers.

To read the book, visitors walk about a third of a mile around the entire park, which also features a playground, a sledding hill and plenty of open space.

The storywalk project cost about $6,500, with a $5,000 grant from 100+ Women Who Care covering the lion’s share.

The Sept. 20 event will feature music, prize drawings and frozen treats for sale, but the main attraction will be the book.

The book selection is by popular children’s author and illustrator Cale Atkinson. Residents voted for their favorite Atkinson book, which is be revealed at the event.