Events Calendar
Friends of the Elk Rapids District Library to Host “A Whimsical Ladybug Garden Gathering”
The Friends of the Elk Rapids District Library are pleased to announce a new
family-focused fundraising event this summer, A Whimsical Ladybug Garden Gathering, an afternoon garden party designed to bring together families for creativity, connection, and community support.
The event will take place on Sunday, July 12, from 2:00–4:00 PM, at 7915 Cairn Hwy. Designed for families with children ages 4–12, the gathering will feature hands-on crafts, interactive entertainment, and a whimsical ladybug release.
Guests will enjoy performances by Full Tilt Improv of the Northern Comedy Collective, offering engaging, family-friendly improv experiences throughout the afternoon. The event is generously sponsored by host Karin Wolfe.
Centered on the theme Ladybugs, Gratitude & Whimsy, the event aims to create joyful shared experiences while raising support for the Friends of the Elk Rapids District Library and its ongoing programs and future
initiatives.
Attendance is limited to approximately 30–40 guests due to parking capacity, ensuring an intimate and relaxed atmosphere for all participants.
Reserve your spot: https://www.friendsoftheelkrapidslibrary.org/membership-store/p/a-whimsical-ladybug-garden-gathering
Questions? Contact the Friends of the Elk Rapids District Library at rsvp@friendsoftheelkrapidslibrary.org
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Books on Tap @ Shorts Pull Barn
Full of Jojo Moyes’ signature humor, brilliant storytelling, and warmth, Someone Else’s Shoes is a story about how just one little thing can suddenly change everything.
A limited amount of copies are available for check out at the library and on Libby. Copies can also be requested through MEL.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Story Time
Bring your little ones for a magical morning filled with stories, creativity, and fun! We will try to hold Storytime outside whenever possible. Bring a blanket to sit on and join the fun.
What to Expect:
Engaging story sessions
Early literacy skill-building activities
Exciting craftivity projects
A chance to make new friends!
Whether your child loves stories or is just discovering the joy of books, Storytime is the perfect place to nurture their imagination and develop essential skills.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Story Time
Bring your little ones for a magical morning filled with stories, creativity, and fun! We will try to hold Storytime outside whenever possible. Bring a blanket to sit on and join the fun.
What to Expect:
Engaging story sessions
Early literacy skill-building activities
Exciting craftivity projects
A chance to make new friends!
Whether your child loves stories or is just discovering the joy of books, Storytime is the perfect place to nurture their imagination and develop essential skills.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Island House Readers Book Club: The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende
This powerful and moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Petal of the Sea weaves together past and present, tracing the ripple effects of war and immigration on one child in Europe in 1938 and another in the United States in 2019.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Books on Tap @ Old Bathing Beach
The provocative and hilarious summer read that will have book lovers cheering and everyone talking!
A limited amount of copies are available for check out at the library and on Libby. Copies can also be requested through MEL.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Foodie Book Club
Join us at Art and Connection for our next Foodie Book Club. Stop by the library to choose your recipe. Join us with your dish to talk all things food and cooking.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Antrim Writers Series - Reading & Book Signing with Chad V. Broughman
About This Event
Join us for a free reading and book signing with Chad V. Broughman at Bos Winery in Elk Rapids.
Chad V. Broughman is the author of The Fall of Bellwether, hailed by the American Writing Awards as “a triumph of literary fiction, deserving of a place among the modern classics” and “First among Equals.” In addition to earning top ten status in ScreenCraft’s Cinematic Novel Competition and being shortlisted by First Novel Prize, Bellwether was a finalist for the Page Turner Award and the International Book Award, winner of the Hawthorne Prize, and declared Best Historical Fiction Novel of 2024. Most recently, Bellwether was named the 2025 Silver Award Winner of Reader Views Classic-Historical Fiction competition.
Broughman was awarded two chapbook contracts for his highly acclaimed short story collections––The Forsaken and Slighted––both published by Etchings Press. His short fiction can be found in journals worldwide––Carrier Pigeon, East Coast Literary Review, River Poets Journal, Burningword, Pulp Fiction, Sky Island Journal, and From Whispers to Roars, to name a few––and in anthologies such as Write Michigan Short Story Anthology, On Loss, and Scribes Valley. Other credits include the Rusty Scythe Prize Book Award and the Adobe Cottage Writers Retreat honor in New Mexico, in addition to Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominations. He holds an MFA from Spalding University and served as co-editor for the fiction/poetry blog "Cafe Aphra," based out of the United Kingdom.
Broughman teaches English and Creative Writing at the secondary and post-secondary levels but is most proud of his roles as a husband and devoted father to two rambunctious young sons. When not crafting fiction, Broughman can be found pulling up bass (or not) from one of northern Michigan’s inland lakes or being walked by their golden retriever, Biscuit.
Registration requested: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/eventregistrations/event/readingbooksigningwithchad/
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Antrim Writers Series - Fiction Writing Workshop with Chad V. Broughman
About This Event
Join us for a fiction writing workshop with Chad V. Broughman at Grass River Natural Area in Bellaire.
Chad V. Broughman is the author of The Fall of Bellwether, hailed by the American Writing Awards as “a triumph of literary fiction, deserving of a place among the modern classics” and “First among Equals.” In addition to earning top ten status in ScreenCraft’s Cinematic Novel Competition and being shortlisted by First Novel Prize, Bellwether was a finalist for the Page Turner Award and the International Book Award, winner of the Hawthorne Prize, and declared Best Historical Fiction Novel of 2024. Most recently, Bellwether was named the 2025 Silver Award Winner of Reader Views Classic-Historical Fiction competition.
Broughman was awarded two chapbook contracts for his highly acclaimed short story collections––The Forsaken and Slighted––both published by Etchings Press. His short fiction can be found in journals worldwide––Carrier Pigeon, East Coast Literary Review, River Poets Journal, Burningword, Pulp Fiction, Sky Island Journal, and From Whispers to Roars, to name a few––and in anthologies such as Write Michigan Short Story Anthology, On Loss, and Scribes Valley. Other credits include the Rusty Scythe Prize Book Award and the Adobe Cottage Writers Retreat honor in New Mexico, in addition to Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominations. He holds an MFA from Spalding University and served as co-editor for the fiction/poetry blog "Cafe Aphra," based out of the United Kingdom.
Broughman teaches English and Creative Writing at the secondary and post-secondary levels but is most proud of his roles as a husband and devoted father to two rambunctious young sons. When not crafting fiction, Broughman can be found pulling up bass (or not) from one of northern Michigan’s inland lakes or being walked by their golden retriever, Biscuit.
Tickets are $10. The first 15 people to register for this event will receive a free copy of The Fall of Bellwether.
https://secure.qgiv.com/for/eventregistrations/event/rbswcvbc/
Island House Readers Book Club: My Friends
An unforgettably funny, deeply moving tale of four teenagers whose friendship creates a bond so powerful that it changes a complete stranger’s life twenty-five years later.
Books on Tap @ The DAM Shop
A traditional American woman, a “tradwife” influencer, suddenly awakens in the brutal reality of 1855—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel.
A limited amount of copies are available for check out at the library and on Libby. Copies can also be requested through MEL.
Island House Readers Book Club: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Richard Russo is the story of an almost-love affair that begins on the Italian coast in 1962 and resurfaces fifty years later in Hollywood. From the lavish set of Cleopatra to the shabby revelry of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to the back lots of contemporary Hollywood, this is a dazzling, yet deeply human roller coaster of a novel.
Island House Readers Book Club: The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town's most respected gentlemen.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Island House Readers Book Club: Klara and the Sun
From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change forever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans
Ground Breaking - Library Closing Early
The Library will close at 3:00pm to allow our entire staff to take part in the Ground Breaking at our new location (8980 Cairn Hwy). We invite the community to join in this historic celebration. *THE GROUND BREAKING EVENT IS 4:00-4:30pm.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Story Time
Bring your little ones for a magical morning filled with stories, creativity, and fun! It’s getting nice out and we will try to hold Storytime outside whenever possible. Bring a blanket to sit on and join the fun.
What to Expect:
Engaging story sessions
Early literacy skill-building activities
Exciting craftivity projects
A chance to make new friends!
Whether your child loves stories or is just discovering the joy of books, Storytime is the perfect place to nurture their imagination and develop essential skills.
ER Knitters
Join the library knitting circle. Every Thursday we meet on the library porch. Bring your projects from home!
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
Dam Presentation
Join us at the library for a presentation on the Elk Rapids Dam and Chain of Lakes water levels with Leslie Meyers. Tour to follow!
Story Time
Bring your little ones for a magical morning filled with stories, creativity, and fun! We will try to hold Storytime outside whenever possible. Bring a blanket to sit on and join the fun.
What to Expect:
Engaging story sessions
Early literacy skill-building activities
Exciting craftivity projects
A chance to make new friends!
Whether your child loves stories or is just discovering the joy of books, Storytime is the perfect place to nurture their imagination and develop essential skills.
ER Knitters
Join the library knitting circle. Every Thursday we meet on the library porch. Bring your projects from home!
Tech Help @ the Library
Free tech support from our resident guru and technology coordinator, Aaron Hill. Whether you’re having trouble with your computer, phone, or anything technology-related, Aaron will do his best to help you figure it out! This is a free program for all library members.
