Tales and Feathers: Here’s how the Indian Creek Library teamed up with city, Mahaffie

What did Indian Creek Library patrons take to more at the recent Tales and Feathers program: the chickens or the eggs? The collaboration of the library, the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm and the City of Olathe gave fans of feathers a selection of activities to try.

Library staff members were on hand to teach attendees how to make chicken-themed buttons in the Makerspace and create their own chicken puppets with paper bags. They also screened the film “Chicken Little” and played a game called “Chicken Run.”

The button-making was the highlight of the program for 11-year-old Roslyn Irwin, who came with her mom and sister.

Meanwhile, Alexis Radil, events coordinator at Mahaffie, brought two of the farm’s golden cochin chickens out on the patio.

Olathe resident Robbie Turner enjoyed the opportunity to see the birds.

“I think they’re beautiful and apparently very friendly. I’m excited to look at the chickens,” she said.

Groups of children also listened to Radil read books featuring chicken characters. “Chicken Dance” and “Bawk and Roll” were both written by Tammi Saue.

The city’s planning department provided information for anyone inspired to start keeping their own backyard chickens.

Over in the library’s event space, Johnson County Extension got in on the chicken action as well, with Extension Master Food volunteers serving egg salad and talking about related food safety issues.

“We get to talk to so many people and get so much information about what they think of nutrition. It’s always fun seeing how much the kids already know,” said Master Food volunteer Cheri Thomas-Lightner.

Partnering with so many different groups is something the city of Olathe’s 2040 plan encourages.

“It’s part of quality of life, encouraging collaboration and strengthening of programs. We’ve been working with public library staff for about four years here and there. It’s a great way to have a program that includes other city services as well,” Radil said.

For this particular program, Radil, along with Allison Antrim and Angela Parks at the library, looked for something they could do together to build on the summer reading program theme “Tails and Tales.”

The chicken program was a “good way to incorporate what Mahaffie can bring to the library as far as sharing programs and resources and reaching a wider audience,” Radil said.

The library’s outdoor spaces made it easier to incorporate real animals into the program. Attendees were able to step outside to see the animals and go to various spots inside the library to engage with the other activities.

By staging it as a drop-in program, rather that something with a specific start and end, they also allowed people to socially distance.

Radil hopes that by partnering with the library, both organizations might introduce themselves to people who might attend programs at one location but not at another.

“Sometimes the library audience might not be aware of what Mahaffie’s doing,” Radil said.