Happiness Celebrated At Canton Public Library

The Canton Public Library was filled with brightness, balloons, bubbles, candy and dancing on March 20, the International Day of Happiness.

The library had been counting down to the celebration on its social media pages for 21 days. With the hope of rewiring the brain to think more positively, three acts of kindness witnessed in the library or things staff felt grateful for were listed each day.

The culmination was a celebration in the library’s Community Room. Dancers jumped to a playlist of happy tunes alongside a bubble machine and disco lights. There was a station for cupcake decorating station and another for selfies in front of a collaborative art project.

To encourage spreading positivity, patrons were invited to write something that brings them happiness on a paper sunshine and take a slip of paper with an action on it to bring happiness to somebody else. Patrons wrote everything from friends and family to pizza, tacos, surprises and books.

“My favorite part was watching people’s faces light up when they came in. You could feel the essence of sheer joy that comes with doing something just for the fun of it,” said Program Librarian Laura Fawcett.

Patrons reacted with all smiles. One family happened to stumble upon the program on their very first visit to CPL. Teenagers stopped in and went to grab their friends and have them come. A little girl, who had been dancing for the entire two hours, thanked each librarian individually at the end.

Since it took place on the first day of spring, the celebration also marked the end of CPL’s Electrify Your Winter campaign. During that time, staff made efforts to combat the winter blues and cabin fever with at home library resource suggestions and in house programs.

The Canton Public Library is located at 1200 S. Canton Center Road, in Canton. Visit www.cantonpl.org/calendar or call (734) 397-0999 for upcoming programs.