Jaime’s KCLS Jaunt #28: Lake Forest Park

I was finally able to work in another jaunt on a weeknight!  Trip number 16 took me straight to the Lake Forest Park Library after work.  (Whew, quite the rush hour commute from Bellevue!) Located in Lake Forest Park Towne Centre since 1965, this is one of the busiest medium sized libraries in KCLS.

Unlike other KCLS “mall” branches, the Lake Forest Park Library is a full-service library.  I chatted for a few minutes with the Librarian and she said that the feeling of community was one of the best things about Lake Forest Park.  This area is well known for its feeling of a “third place” – that place outside home and work to come together.

One of the reasons I chose to visit Lake Forest Park on this particular evening was to attend the Lake Forest Reads Author Event, held in conjunction with Third Place Books, Third Place Commons, the Friends of the Library, the City of Lake Forest Park, and the LFP Library Advisory Committee. The selection this year was Ivan Doig’s The Whistling Season. Mr. Doig was on hand to discuss more about homesteading in Montana, including his family’s personal experiences, and the book in general.  He drew quite the crowd! It was a wonderful read – I really lost myself in the characters and the one room schoolhouse in the early 1900s.  Having only ever attended urban schools, I also found it interesting to listen to others in the crowd that had actually ridden horses to their one room schoolhouses!

I’m very glad that I attended the event and was able to experience first-hand that feeling of the “third place” so often talked about with this area in Lake Forest Park!