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Bracebridge Library Board Chair, Barbara Hutchinson (center) and Bracebridge Library Technical Services Coordinator, Sarah MacNeal (right), accept the Minister’s Award for Innovation at the Ontario Library Super Conference from Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Laura Smith (left) on February 2, 2023 in Toronto.

BRACEBRIDGE, ON (February 13, 2023) – The Bracebridge Library was awarded the prestigious Minister’s Award for Innovation from the Ministry of Tourism Culture & Sport. The Minister’s Award for Innovation recognizes successful new approaches that demonstrate a positive impact in a community and are of continued value to public libraries. It is awarded at the annual Ontario Library Association Super Conference in Toronto.

This award places the Bracebridge Library in great company amid the most innovative libraries in the Province. The Library took home the honor for their efforts in the creation and delivery of the Party in the Park event held in June of 2022. This event was initially created as a way of allowing the community to reconnect with the Library, community organizations, businesses and with one another after the COVID-19 pandemic. The Party in the Park event also proved to be the perfect time to launch the new brand for the Library and for taking new steps towards more active and engaged involvement with the community at large.

The Party in the Park allowed the Library to partner with many groups including The Town of Bracebridge, The Bracebridge Fire Department, Muskoka Paramedic Services, Muskoka Pride, The Friends of the Bracebridge Library, Muskoka Arts & Crafts Inc., The Bracebridge Horticultural Society, Don’t Let the Cat Go, EarlyON Muskoka and more. The Library was also able to feature local musicians including Jam Sandwich, The Hop Heads, Neil Hutchinson, George Axon and a band of high school students who had yet to determine a band name – all of whom provided fun and engaging entertainment for all ages.

While the event was originally planned to be a one-time experience, the feedback the Library received from the community was so overwhelmingly positive and supportive that the Library has decided to make this an annual event in early June. Stay tuned for details about all of the fun that the Party in the Park will be offering this year.

“The Bracebridge Library is so proud to have been selected for this award. The Library staff, Board and community partners all worked hard to come together for this event, therefore this honour truly belongs to the entire Town. The response and feedback we received was far better than we could have expected. The support of our community continues to inspire us to continue to grow with our community. We thank you all for the ability to showcase our Library and our community on this scale and for the opportunity to serve Bracebridge every day.”

• Crystal Bergstrome, CEO & Chief Librarian, Bracebridge Library

“It is great to have recognition for all of the work that library staff put in to making this event happen. But the event wouldn’t have been successful without our partners in Bracebridge who set up their tents and brought food, activities, stories, firetrucks and ambulances; or without our community who came out to celebrate moving forward with us. The Party in the Park kicked off a year of great programs at the library and we are excited to continue to have events that are a little out of the ordinary.“

• Sarah MacNeal, Technical Services Coordinator, Bracebridge Library

“It was my honour to attend the Ontario Library Awards Gala as board chair with a member of the library staff as we accepted this award. We celebrate our win for the highly innovative and successful Bracebridge Library 2022 ‘Party-In-The-Park’ event that engaged over 1,000 members of our community, the award submission documented in gorgeous graphic detail, the many and varied steps taken to plan and mount this event along with the myriad benefits the library and its community have derived from it. No wonder folks are asking when the 2023 Party-In-The-Park will be. Stay tuned as you can see by now, that we are Anything but The Ordinary.”

• Barbara Hutchinson, Board Chair, Bracebridge Library