Library hosts annual Edible Book Day
By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Strathmore Municipal Library hosted their annual Edible Book Day on April 5.
Edible Book Day is a community program where members of the community are invited to create an edible representation of a book. Effectively, the only rule being that the display is consumable and everything else is open to interpretation.
“At the end of it, we do eat the creations, so it does need to be edible. Typically, it is things like cakes or usually desserts … cookie decorating has become really popular,” said Laura Henderson, public services manager for the library. “We had to take a break obviously due to COVID-19, and in that little break we lost steam there a little bit, but it definitely has been slowly getting more and more popular each year. Last year, we had about 11 or 12 entries in all three categories that we have, but we have had over 50 people come in and vote and enjoy the treats.”
Edible Book Day has been in operation at the library since 2015. The idea at the time was based on an international event that has been around since the 90’s and is typically held at the beginning of April.
The categories this year are for juveniles, 15 years of age and under, and the adults, being for those 16 and older. Additionally, a third category for family entries has been created in order to encourage participation from those interested in getting their little ones involved.
After votes from the attending community are counted, a first-place prize will be awarded to each of the winners in each category.
Entries were accepted right up until noon, April 5, at which point the voting began and took place throughout the afternoon.
“(Community response) has been really positive. It is kind of a bizarre event – it is a really different one … It started just in my first couple of years here at the library so I was not as involved at the time, but I think because of its uniqueness, it kind of spurs community interest,” said Henderson. “It is really unique in that I have not found many contests like this anywhere … when we were able to relaunch it, I wanted to launch it with a bit of extra to see if we could drum up interest. I had trouble finding anything quite similar, but it has become a really unique, different event that we offer and in the community in general.”
Because there was the time off in between due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the library has opted to not consider a theme or celebration of 10 years since the inauguration of the event.
Similarly, operating the event open-ended instead of hosting a theme allows participants more freedom to create whatever they please.