Week Calendar

Featured Events

Red, green blue and purple paint splotches with the word Messtival written in large orange letters and Color Our World below it.

Messtival Summer Learning Kickoff

Thursday, May 29, 2025 at 3:30pm - 6:00pm
Community Meeting Room at Essex Public Library

Program Type:

Special Event

Age Group:

Children, Preschool, Tweens, Teens, Family, Everyone
View Details
Library Branch: Essex Public Library
Room: Community Meeting Room
Age Group: Children, Preschool, Tweens, Teens, Family, Everyone
Program Type: Special Event
Event Details:

Celebrate the creative spirit at this messy art festival to kick off a summer of fun!

Groovy Nate in a hat and sunglasses outside next to a colorful mural holding an assortment of percussive instruments.

Get Your Groove on with Groovy Nate

Monday, June 2, 2025 at 10:30am - 11:15am
Community Meeting Room at Essex Public Library

Program Type:

Performance

Age Group:

Children, Preschool, Family
View Details
Library Branch: Essex Public Library
Room: Community Meeting Room
Age Group: Children, Preschool, Family
Program Type: Performance
Event Details:

Move, sing and play with Grammy nominated Groovy Nate® and his funky grooves, exotic musical instruments and comedy. For ages 4 -10.

A human handing using chalk pastels to create a vibrant abstract doodle

Color Your World: Abstract Pastels

Wednesday, June 4, 2025 at 3:30pm - 5:30pm
Community Meeting Room at Essex Public Library

Program Type:

Arts & Crafts, Workshop

Age Group:

Tweens, Teens, Adults
Register Now
Library Branch: Essex Public Library
Room: Community Meeting Room
Age Group: Tweens, Teens, Adults
Program Type: Arts & Crafts, Workshop
Registration Required
Event Details:

Use and blend chalk pastels to create an abstract masterpiece in this workshop with local artist and art educator, Emily Crews. For ages 9 and older. Registration required.

female librarian in glasses and sassy red shoes sits on a stool to read a book to 2 children with her ukelele next to her and a butterfly floating past, The texts Color Our World Storytime with a blue bird perching on them tops the page.

Storytime

Thursday, June 5, 2025 at 10:30am - 11:30am
Community Meeting Room at Essex Public Library

Program Type:

Storytime

Age Group:

Children, Preschool, Family
View Details
Library Branch: Essex Public Library
Room: Community Meeting Room
Age Group: Children, Preschool, Family
Program Type: Storytime
Event Details:

Brighten up your week and celebrate summer by joining Ms. Beth for colorful stories, fun songs, rhymes and activities that support school readiness. For ages 8 and under with an adult caregiver.

Book cover of Wishtree: silhouette of a large oak tree with a few colorful ribbons tied to its branches against a star-studded blue night sky. A crow stands looking up at the tree and an owl and a pair of skunks are in its branches. The words wishtree from the Newbery medal-winning author of the One and Only Ivan Katherine Applegate

World Builders Book Club: Wishtree

Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at 3:45pm - 5:00pm
Community Meeting Room at Essex Public Library

Program Type:

Book Club

Age Group:

Children, Tweens
Register Now
Library Branch: Essex Public Library
Room: Community Meeting Room
Age Group: Children, Tweens
Program Type: Book Club
Registration Required
Event Details:

Read, craft and play games centered around Newbery Medal-winning author, Katherine Applegate's, Wishtree.

Nickolas Muray's photograph of Frida Kahlo on a Bench in New York in 1939

Color Our World with Frida Kahlo and Mexican Modernism

Wednesday, June 11, 2025 at 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Community Meeting Room at Essex Public Library

Program Type:

Other, Special Event

Age Group:

Adults
View Details
Library Branch: Essex Public Library
Room: Community Meeting Room
Age Group: Adults
Program Type: Other, Special Event
Event Details:

Delve deeper into the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Frida Kahlo exhibit, "Frida: Beyond the Myth," in this talk with art historian Dr. Jeanette Nicewinter, Ph.D. 

cartoonish red and white striped tub of popcorn wearing sunglasses walking munching popcorn and holding a paintbrush in its hand and leaving a red paint trail behind it

Paint, Punch and Popcorn

Friday, June 13, 2025 at 2:30pm - 5:00pm
Community Meeting Room at Essex Public Library

Program Type:

Arts & Crafts

Age Group:

Children, Preschool, Tweens, Family
View Details
Library Branch: Essex Public Library
Room: Community Meeting Room
Age Group: Children, Preschool, Tweens, Family
Program Type: Arts & Crafts
Event Details:

Drop by the library to make some art and have a snack. All ages.

grand piano sitting on a cloud with its lid open and a rainbow with colorful musical notes and shapes on a sky blue background

There's a Song for That!

Saturday, June 14, 2025 at 10:30am - 11:15am
Community Meeting Room at Essex Public Library

Program Type:

Performance, Workshop

Age Group:

Children, Preschool, Family
View Details
Library Branch: Essex Public Library
Room: Community Meeting Room
Age Group: Children, Preschool, Family
Program Type: Performance, Workshop
Event Details:

Whatever you’re thinking or feeling, there's probably a song for that! Music is a great way for children to express emotions, cultivate creativity, and build empathy.

Blue graphic of a drone flying over a geometric pattern and the words make it work with STEM robotics written in gold

Make it Work With STEM: Drones

Saturday, June 14, 2025 at 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Community Meeting Room at Essex Public Library

Program Type:

Technology Class, Workshop

Age Group:

Tweens, Teens
Register Now
Library Branch: Essex Public Library
Room: Community Meeting Room
Age Group: Tweens, Teens
Program Type: Technology Class, Workshop
Registration Required
Event Details:

Work together in teams to build and fly a drone - explore how it works, test your flying skills and see just how high you can soar.  Ages 9 to 15.  Registration required.

Author Katherine Applegate in a jean jacket with colorful necklace standing next to the picture book cover of Odder with a sea otter leaning its face against a paw while floating on its back in the Pacific Ocean. World Builders Book club Watch Party written underneath

World Builders Book Club Watch Party with Katherine Applegate

Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at 3:45pm - 5:00pm
Community Meeting Room at Essex Public Library

Program Type:

Book Club, Special Event

Age Group:

Children, Tweens
View Details
Library Branch: Essex Public Library
Room: Community Meeting Room
Age Group: Children, Tweens
Program Type: Book Club, Special Event
Event Details:

Join us for a watch party at the Library as award-winning author and summer reading champion Katherine Applegate talks to viewers about her enthusiastically heartwarming novel in verse, Odder.

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