There were plenty of kisses seen between parents and their children at the Lunar New Year celebration, a Sunday afternoon memory maker on Jan. 22 at the Northfield branch of the Winnetka-Northfield Public Library.
Amelia Kmiec, Northfield branch services librarian from Norwood Park, said the Lunar New Year celebration was a new event with 35 registrants, the maximum capacity for the free event.
“We’re really excited,” Kmiec said. “We have a lot of bilingual story times that we’re doing here and this is one of the events that heralds how awesome our bilingual story time is and how we want people to come. We’re celebrating the cultures that make our community unique.”
The event celebrates the Lunar New Year, marking the end of winter and Year of the Rabbit. The celebration is held alongside the new moon between late January and February.
“I think that we, as a library, are starting to do a lot of rebranding and reorganizing in terms of what we want from ourselves for the community,” Kmiec said with a smile. “And I think that’s a really great place for us to start from is the idea of the rabbit for the New Year.”
Rebecca Toton of Wilmette and daughter Melrose, 5, a kindergartner, were among attendees.
“She (Melrose) loves bunnies,” Rebecca Toton said. “It’s the Year of the Rabbit so we’re very excited.”
Emma Forquer of Winnetka, storyteller, and a Highland Park High School Mandarin Chinese teacher, read several books aloud during the event’s story time.
Forquer also shared a personal traditional recipe of pork and chive filled dumplings that attendees could make later in the library’s Community Room. Patrons could bring the dumpling recipe home with instructions on how to safely cook it.
She said food is the best way to bring people closer and that sharing her recipe is her way of sending love to her community.
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Forquer and husband Mark Forquer are the parents of William, 7, a second-grader, and Thomas, 6, a kindergartner. Emma Forquer also leads a Chinese bilingual story time at the Winnetka library location.
“In Winnetka, there are not many Asian people,” Emma Forquer said. “And so I wanted to have this event to raise awareness about how people actually celebrate the Lunar New Year.”
Kate MacNally of Winnetka was in the story time audience and spent time at a craft table with children Rowan, 7, a first-grader, and Eve, 5, a junior kindergartner.
“I’m excited about helping our children have a more multicultural view especially on the North Shore which traditionally people have an idea that is very White,” Kate MacNally said.
“I’m excited about the kids getting a chance to learn about other cultures and doing it through literature and doing it through celebrations of holidays is a great way to get kids excited.”
She appreciated the incorporation of food in the event saying, “I’m of Italian descent so food is love. I think that being able to dive into another culture’s food is a great way to have community.”
Arianna Brooks of Northbrook and grandparent Ruthie Cohen of Bloomington, Indiana accompanied Arianna’s children Isabella Brooks, 4, a preschooler and Jordan Brooks, 6, a kindergartner.
“We just love learning about different cultures,” Arianna Brooks said. “We love all of the things that are involved with Lunar New Year, it’s a lot of great colors and sounds, they love all the different toys … the whole cultural experience is really fun.”
A bright orange lion made a grand entrance after story time. Children clamored to get close and parents were seen snapping family photos.
Jamie Kim of Winnetka, the parent of Hero Kim, 4, acknowledged how excited Hero was to see the lion come indoor to visit with families and was, “so fun to see.”
Kim acknowledged the Winnetka-Northfield Public Library.
“Just thanks for having this event, it was so fun,” Kim said. “They always do a good job with their events so this is no exception.”
Karie Angell Luc is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.