Entertainment: Raising Bakersfield

American Kids Presents Parent Night Out Halloween Style!

American Kids Sports is hosting a Parent Night Out!

LOCATION: American Kids SW 4401 Ride St. (behind 24hr Fitness on White Ln. & Gosford) PHONE: AKSC SW 833-3986 & AKSC NW 589-2100 E-mail: INFO@AmericanKidsSports.com

WWW.AmericanKidsSports.com

Fri October 31st (Halloween) & Sat November 1st

Time: 6:00-11:00

Price: 1st child $20 - $13 for additional kids

This is a great opportunity for Parents to provide their Children with a Halloween like no other! Parents can go and enjoy a night out without the kids or any worries. American Kids Sports SW is the place for a fun and safe environment this Halloween! Kids will enjoy:

-Costume Contest

-Haunted Maze

-Spooky and Fun Game Booths with Prizes

-Halloween Games

-Halloween Movie & Snacks

Hey you: boo! Every day in October is Halloween with activities ghoul-ore

October means one thing: Boo! That’s right, Halloween, the holiday that sugarcoats the frightful and makes it fun.

And although it doesn’t happen until the end of the month, it’s already here — for those who haven’t been to the supermarket or the mall lately.

It seems the decorations come out earlier and earlier each year, with or without a national financial crisis. On the other hand, an unstable economy is a very scary thing and therefore thematically appropriate, some might say.

Here is a short list of local Halloween attractions and activities.

Some are screaming-teen-and-adult-gnarly. Some are cute and benign, with little ones and families in mind. And some begin as early as this weekend. Check ’em out. Have fun. And most of all, don’t forget to screeeaaam! — and to laugh afterward.

Keep your eye on Eye Street’s activities calendar for other fall events.

THE CHAMBER HAUNTED HOUSE

When: 7 p.m. until all the ghosts have gone home this Friday and Saturday, Oct. 10-12, 17-19, 23-26, 30-31 and Nov. 1. The last night is a benefit night, and half of Nov. 1 proceeds will be donated to the Bakersfield Association for Retarded Citizens.

Where: Sam Lynn Ball Park, 4009 Chester Ave.

Admission: $10 — $1 discount coupons available in record, game and Halloween costume stores around town.

What makes it special: Very, very scary. Parental guidance required for children under 13.

David Enloe, creator and owner of this haunted house/maze type of attraction, makes sure his blood-and-guts props are as lifelike (or deathlike) as possible, and also employs live actors to scare the Beetlejuice out of screaming patrons.

Speaking of beetle juice, “Bug Bite” is one of this year’s environments in The Chamber. The other two are “Wrong Turn Alley” and “Cirque de Souls.”

This is the fifth year of The Chamber in Bakersfield, according to Enloe, who said attendance last year was about 15,000.

MURRAY FAMILY FARMS OCTOBER FEST 2008

When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays in October

Where: Highway 58 at the General Beale Road exit

Admission: A $10 per-person day pass allows entry into the October Fest area (children under 30 inches tall get in free). Once inside, you can purchase a train ride ticket for an additional $3.

Information: 339-0296 or 330-0100

What makes it special: General manager Mariella Canepa said October Fest at Murray Family Farms provides a wholesome family environment full of “things you don’t experience at the mall or at the movie theater or at the bowling alley.”

The Spider Maze is all about spiders without being scary. It’s interactive, educational and fun, Canepa said.

“The Asparagus Maze is all about colors and fruit,” she said. “When you eat fruit, you’re eating colors and vice-versa. We educate kids about how important it is to eat your colors. Ultimately it’s all about getting them to eat nutritious fruit.”

The Hay Wagon Ride teaches kids about farming and what it takes to grow food. Everyone with a day pass is allowed to pick a 2-to-3-pound baby pumpkin to take home, Canepa said.

The small Petting Zoo features baby goats, pygmy goats, chickens, a llama, a pig, birds and sheep.

A picnic area at the farm allows families to bring lunch and enjoy it in the open.

A HAUNTED MUSEUM NIGHT AT THE BUENA VISTA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

When: 7 to 9:30 p.m. Oct. 17 and 18

Where: 2018 Chester Ave.

Admission: $7 for adults, $5 for students

Information and reservations, which are recommended: 324-6350.

What makes it special: Spooky shadows and blind spots await at every exhibit and diorama here, as you creep through the museum’s halls on a “fun and fearful” flashlight-guided tour. “A special visit to the ‘Weird Professor’s Science Lab’ is a must!” according to a museum news release.

KERN COUNTY MUSEUM'S 25TH ANNUAL SAFE HALLOWEEN

When: 5:30 to 9 p.m. Oct. 30 and 31

Where: 3801 Chester Ave.

Admission: $8 for adults and children 3 and older, $6 for museum members. Trick-or-treating is for children 3 to 12 only, and a museum-supplied bag must be used. Children 2 and under can get in free if they are not trick-or-treating.

Advance tickets are on sale at the museum, branches of the Kern Schools Federal Credit Union and online through vallitix.com.

Information: 852-5020

What makes it special: Just as its name says, the museum’s “safe Halloween” allows children and their accompanying adults to have fun in an environment free of vehicle traffic and other potential hazards.

The museum’s mission to be safe is so strong, that “no weapons of any kind, real or toy, are allowed” on the grounds, according to the event Web site. “This includes light sabers, guns, swords, canes and fairy wands” because “unintentional injuries can occur due to the number of people on the grounds.”

Children will be able to enjoy more than 30 trick-or-treat stations, costume contests, a school-type carnival, a petting zoo, food and beverages, and more.

Originally posted at www.bakersfield.com/138/story/567276.html on Tuesday, Sep 30 2008.

Photos:

Photo by Roger Hornback / The Californian

Tony Campbell, dressed up as the Keltmonster, jumps through some vines at the 2007 Chamber haunted attraction.

Photo by John Harte / The Californian

Emily Silva, 3, checked out how tall she was at a big pumpkin growth chart at Murray Family Farms in this 2006 photograph.

Photo by Casey Christie / The Californian

Brayden DeCamp, dressed in his dragon costume, walked around the Kern County Museum with his uncle Ian Tucker during the Safe Halloween event in 2007.

Storytime Map

Looking for a new Storytime? This map contains all of the regular local storytimes color-coded by day.

If you have a storytime to add, please click on the add button or email us at info@raisingbakersfield.com

For all upcoming storytimes and events, visit our events calendar.

Pool and Spray Park Interactive Map

Find a pool or spray park near you on our interactive map! Click on a numbered pin to find out about a location's amenities, hours, and directions. Are we missing anything or do we need updated information? Let us know!

Bakersfield & Kern County Libraries Map

The Kern County Library system has more than two-dozen branches, including the Beale Library (main branch), plus two bookmobiles. The system offers more than 1 million volumes, and also borrows books from other public libraries in the state.

Services provided by the library system include microfilm and microfiche, duplicating, typewriters, CD ROM reference, audiovisual material, Kurzweil readers that scan a printed page and then convert it to speech for partially sighted readers, computers and Internet access, books on tape and audiovisual listening stations. Library cards are free to county residents. Late fee for books is 25 cents per book per day.

Main branch: Beale Memorial Library, at 701 Truxtun Ave. in Bakersfield, 868-0701. The county’s main branch features an auditorium, atrium and two meeting rooms. It also has rooms on local history, genealogy, geology, mining and petroleum. Beale hours are: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Tuesday, noon to 9 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Closed Sunday.

RaisingBakersfield.com: An online community space for parents debuts

Happy Mother’s Day, Bakersfield: Have we got a present for you!

The Bakersfield Californian family of publications has given birth today to its newest Web site, RaisingBakersfield.com, an online community space for local moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas, aunts, uncles, and anyone else who has a stake in raising Bakersfield’s next generation.

Are you so enamored with your kids that you want to post their pictures online and blog about their progress?

Do you want to keep an online journal detailing your daily fears and joys as a parent?

Are you hoping to find great deals on anything from toys to tutoring, or to get information on upcoming family events in the community?

Do you want to meet, vent with, bond with, or give advice to other parents or grandparents?

Then you’ll want to become a member of this new urban tribe.

WHAT SOME USERS ARE SAYING

“I love the website. It is easy to use and very creative. I think it will be a lot of fun and informative on many levels for the parents in the Bakersfield community,” said Jane McCullagh, who goes by the user name “Yomama.”

According to her user profile, McCullagh is “a young-at-heart 60-something mother of three grown daughters and grandmother to two young boys,” who has been a schoolteacher and superintendent as well as a stay-at-home mom.

“I hope to share with you some of the joys I have had as a parent and grandparent and offer any advice and tips I can to that next generation of moms out there!” she tells her fellow site members.

That wish to network is the spirit behind RaisingBakersfield.com, and is reflected in the welcome on its home page by content manager Jason Sperber, father of a 31⁄2-year-old.

“RaisingBakersfield.com is a place, on the web, where we can connect and reflect together,” Sperber (user name “Jason”) said. “Parenting is both the most challenging and the most important job we will ever have, but we can’t do it alone. We shouldn’t have to. This is our community, one we are building for the sake of our children, and together, we are all Raising Bakersfield.”

HOW THE SITE WAS CONCEIVED

Mary Lou Fulton, The Californian’s vice president of audience development, said the idea for a Web site for local parents came from several Californian employees last year during a companywide effort to look for new product offerings for the community.

One of the people who suggested the idea, Fulton said, was circulation manager Cristi Tallman, who was expecting a child 16 years after the birth of her last.

“I found the Internet to be an invaluable resource,” Tallman said. But even online, something soon became obvious to her: “There was no good local source where I could connect with other moms and moms-to-be.”

Fulton said Tallman became part of a team of employees who studied for months the possibility of launching a site like Raising Bakersfield. Research included interviews with the operators of similar sites in other cities, she said. Everything they found pointed to a local need.

“Raising Bakersfield will be the best and most comprehensive local online resource for parents,” Fulton said.

Site users can even sign up to receive free e-mail newsletters to keep up to date on the latest information available on the Web site.

A WEB SITE AND PUBLICATION FOR ADVERTISERS

And for local business owners, Fulton said, Raising Bakersfield will open up opportunities for online and print advertising, as a monthly glossy newsletter will feature selections from the Web site along with an extensive listing of local deals and an event calendar. The print newsletter will be distributed free at more than 100 local businesses catering to parents and families, Fulton said.

“We especially welcome advertising from smaller businesses that don’t have big budgets,” she said.

“This is one of the most affordable advertising programs we have ever offered at The Californian and we hope many local businesses will take advantage of it.”

Originally posted at http://www.bakersfield.com/138/story/439250.html on May 8 for print publication on Mother's Day, May 11, 2008.

Recession time: Family vacation planning and what to tell the kids

Tara Talnenetz’s 5-year-old son, Dilon, is like a lot of boys his age when he gets in a store. His face lights up at the sight of toys or candy, and he turns puppy dog eyes up to his mother.

Talnenetz used to indulge him more, but as the nation teeters on the brink of recession, she finds herself relenting less.

These days when Dilon starts whimpering, “I just tell him no,” Talnenetz said as she loaded her son into her car along with purchases from a northeast Bakersfield 99-Cent Store. “He takes no for an answer, usually. He’s pretty good about that.”

As food and gasoline prices soar, many families are seeing their discretionary income shrink or vanish. There may no longer be room in the family budget for extravagant birthday parties, dance and music lessons or big-ticket electronic toys.

Most parents would like to shield their children from money woes, but children — especially older ones — often sense their parents’ stress, or at the very least notice there’s no vacation this year. It’s not a good idea to lie to children about financial duress, but what you say and how you say it should be adapted to the age of the child, said Dr. Caron Goode of the Academy for Coaching Parents International, a Fort Worth, Texas, organization that certifies parenting experts.

Very young children, and even tweens, have a propensity for melodrama and are easily frightened, Goode said, so you don’t want to use scare tactics that could alarm them unduly.

“Be honest but reassuring,” Goode said. “Just kindly say, ‘Money’s tight right now, but we’ll be OK.’”

Teenagers, on the other hand, are old enough to understand more, and should be approached as allies who can help problem solve.

“Explain that this is what we’re doing together, as a family, to deal with this, and this is how you can help,” Goode said. ‘We don’t really need those $80 jeans or those $200 sneakers. Isn’t there something else you could be happy with?’ Or, ‘You know, if you got a summer job, you’d have more say over how we spend discretionary income because you’d be earning it, yourself.’”

Each family needs to decide how much detail to provide children based on their age and the general comfort level of the parents, but it’s OK to have a general discussion with children about the household budget, said Laura Levine, executive director of Jumpstart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for financial education in schools.

“The general idea is to discuss how much the family earns each month versus how much they have to spend on bills, groceries and other needs, including a set amount for savings, not just what’s left over,” Levine said. “The budget doesn’t need to be complicated and the math part is usually pretty simple. This column needs to be less than that column. So even most elementary school children will be able to understand.”

It’s never too early to start teaching children the value of money, said Cal State Bakersfield economist Abbas Grammy, who used to run an educational program for elementary school students that covered saving, debt and other personal finance issues.

Young people earned money for showing up and participating in class discussions, and the money was held in a classroom bank. Students could withdraw funds to pay for things such as rent for their chairs, toys and candy. Or they could invest in, for instance, car wash supplies they could use to raise even more money washing cars.

“Learning about consumption and savings, and why putting money to work for you in the long run is better than instant gratification, those are lessons they can use all their lives,” Grammy said.
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Fancy thrills versus cheapskate alternatives

Looking for an outing?

Fancy thrill: Disneyland

Anaheim, CA

www.disneyland.com

(714) 781-4565

Tickets: $56 age 3-9, $66 age 10-59, $64 age 60 and up

Parking: $11 cars; vans, campers and RVs $13

Gas: 278 miles round-trip from downtown Bakersfield at $3.85 per gallon=$53

Saturday: Lunch, snack and dinner: $192

One night’s stay at Disneyland Hotel: $300

Sunday: Breakfast: $40

Estimated total for a family of four: $840

Cheapskate: California Living Museum

10500 Alfred Harrell Highway, Bakersfield.

www.calmzoo

(661) 872-2256

Tickets: $7 adults, $5 seniors, $4 students with ID, $4 children age 3-17, Free children under age 3.

Parking: free

Gas: 26 miles round-trip from downtown Bakersfield at $3.85 per gallon=$5

Sack lunches: $20

Estimated total for a family of four: $47

Looking for water?

Fancy thrill: Six Flags Hurricane Harbor

26101 Magic Mountain Parkway, Valencia.

www.sixflags.com/hurricaneHarborLA

(661) 255-4527

Tickets: $24.99 adults, $20.99 children under 48 inches tall.

Parking: $15

Gas: 156 miles round-trip at $3.85 per gallon=$30

Estimated total for a family of four: $136.96

Cheapskate: City of Bakersfield Recreation and Parks Department

The city of Bakersfield has 47 parks, and many of them have a swimming pool, water spray area or both. Call the city for the location of the nearest park and its amenities.

(661) 326-3866 (FUNN)

City map of parks

Admission: Spray areas are free. Swimming pool admission varies by park, but is typically about $2.

Parking: free

Gas: nominal, or free if you walk or ride a bike.

Estimated total for a family of four: free to $8

Planning a birthday party?

Fancy thrill: John’s Incredible Pizza Co.

3709 Rosedale Highway., Bakersfield

www.johnspizza.com

(661) 859-1111

Speedway Party Package: $15.99 per child age 12 or younger

Includes buffet, unlimited soft drinks, 32 Fun World game card credits, 25 redemption tickets and one ride on an indoor go-cart track.

Total for eight guests: $127.92

Cheapskate: Birthday party at home

Your place

Create a free Web site on MySpace, Facebook or eVite

Your phone number

Disposable plates, cups, napkins, forks: $7

Party favors: $10

Goody bags to put them in: $3

Invitations: $4

Birthday cake: $15.99 at Costco, serves 48.

Decorations: $10

Games and prizes: $20

Total for eight guests: $69.99

Sources: California Living Museum, City of Bakersfield Recreation and Parks Department, Disneyland, John’s Incredible Pizza Co., Six Flags Hurricane Harbor. Gas prices from Energy Information Administration, www.eia.doe.gov. Mileage from Mapquest, www.mapquest.com. Party product costs from Party City, www.partycity.com. Cake price from Costco, www.costco.com.
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Source: The Bakersfield Californian, May 10, 2008

Parents need to prevent real-life ‘Kid Nation’

“40 kids, one town, no adults.”

— Advertising trailer for the CBS reality program “Kid Nation”

Are you nuts? Are you high? Those are the first two questions I would like to ask the parents who allowed their children, ages 8 to 15, to participate in the making of “Kid Nation.” The same parents are now complaining to authorities that their children were injured during the filming of the hotly anticipated reality show, which premieres Sept. 19.

Third question: What did you expect?

The “Kid Nation” concept must have been dreamed up when some enterprising staff member of the production company, Good Time TV, came across a copy of “Lord of the Flies.” The premise of the show is this: 40 kids are deposited in a ghost town in New Mexico, where they are supposed to build a working society without the help of adults.

Divided by the producers into four teams of 10, the children must complete certain tasks within three-day cycles. The team that takes first place receives the most buffalo nickels, the town currency. This team is referred to as the “upper class,” and doesn’t have to do any work. The second-place team, called “merchants,” runs the stores in town. The third-place team, called “cooks,” must prepare all meals and wash dishes. The last-place team, called “laborers,” earns the least amount of money, and is in charge of cleaning the entire town. There are more rules, concerning the structure of government and individual cash rewards. Far from kids creating an idyllic society, this setup sounds like it was dictated by an adult mind, resembling what the rest of us refer to as “real life.”

In sorting this out, it helps to keep in mind that television is, above all, an advertising medium. Whatever programming increases the sales of the sponsors’ products is the programming that we will be offered. Judging by network fare, we Americans apparently have an endless appetite for watching real people get themselves into dangerous, stupid, embarrassing, or unethical situations. We salivate over it. We cannot be sated. We send wives to live with each other’s incompatible families. We send nannies into unmanageable homes. We send young women to compete for the hand of an impossibly eligible bachelor.

We send strangers into close quarters and record their every move. Then we splice together the most humiliating footage, because all we really want to watch is people scheming, attacking, failing, crying and otherwise behaving badly.

Author’s disclosure: I am not exactly a fan of this exploitative, voyeuristic and sadistic programming that is presented as entertainment.

With the debut of “Kid Nation,” we just can’t wait to see how horribly a bunch of kids thrown together in the desert will treat each other. The first 13-episode taping reportedly went well enough that CBS is already casting the second season. Controversy is brewing, however, over whether Good Time TV needed to obtain work permits for the children, and whether CBS violated child labor or welfare laws. The producers insist that the kids were not employees, but rather were living in a “summer camp” environment, and that the $5,000 stipend each child received was not the same as wages earned. The answers will possibly be decided by a New Mexico court.

But all of this is almost beside my point. I am still trying to imagine what kind of misguided parent would allow his or her child to inhabit a ghost town for 40 days with no parental contact allowed. (The parents heard from the producers every couple of days, but were not allowed to speak to their children.) What kind of parent signs a 22-page contract that not only binds his or her child to do whatever the producers say, 24/7, but also agrees not to hold CBS liable for any poor medical care, substandard housing, emotional trauma, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, illness, injury, or death that might happen to his or her child during the filming of “Kid Nation”? Not liable for death? (Did anyone read “Lord of the Flies?”) What kind of parent would abdicate all parental responsibility and expose a child to such unacceptable risk for all the money in the world, let alone $5,000 and a fleeting bit of fame?

It would have to be a parent who is already living in a real-life version of “Kid Nation.” It seems to me that some children already rule over a domestic facsimile of “Lord of the Flies”: Some kids are in charge of the family.

I have heard parents say that they are not attending a family event or a social engagement or even church because “the kids don’t want to go.” These are the parents who go where the kids want to go, eat what the kids want to eat, do what the kids want to do.

Excuse me? I am not a particularly domineering or unreasonable parent, but I do believe that part of being a parent is making your kids go to things to which they say they don’t want to go, and part of being a kid is being made to go to things to which you don’t want to go, but that you later (perhaps) appreciate.

It’s a parent’s job to make sure the kids are not inhabiting “Kid Nation,” to provide structure and guidance and rules of behavior, to establish boundaries and consequences.

And it is a job: parenting is the hardest work an adult will ever do, for which one is neither paid nor thanked nor appreciated, nor even, sometimes, liked very much. That’s why adults, and not kids, are supposed to do it.

We parents need to move out of “Kid Nation,” and focus on parenting within the confines of our own personal reality shows. We need to parent. And we might just need to turn off the TV.

Source: The Bakersfield Californian, Friday, Sep 7 2007

Beale Memorial Library celebrates 20 years; embraces new reference age

These days, the Kern County Library doesn’t even care if you come into one of its facilities to use its services.

Get it online — that should be their motto.

“This way, the library never closes,” said Brenda Scobey, reference coordinator for Kern County Library.

The current location of Beale Memorial Library may be turning 20 this week, but several of the county’s top librarians don’t want you to forget their online resources, along with the oldies-but-goodies in the stacks.

And with any luck, doing more to branch out into the digital frontier will help Beale and all Kern libraries stay current for another two decades.

“It’s no longer that you have to come to us,” said Kris Ogilvie, digital programs consultant with the California State Library. “It’s connecting people with information, and that’s what we do.”

BLOGGING

Kern County Library staff started a blog on book recommendations last month and wants residents to comment on the selections, said Gail Lancaster, support services specialist for the Kern County Library.

The blog includes recommendations for kids, teens and adults, along with some special selections for National Poetry and Music Appreciation Month.

Among this month’s recommendations are “Blood and Chocolate,” a book by Annette Klause in which a 16-year-old girl werewolf falls in love with a human boy, and “The Somnambulist” by Jonathan Barnes, in which a stage magician/detective and his silent sidekick try to re-create apocalyptic prophecies to bring down the British Empire.

INSTANT MESSAGING

Got a burning research question at 2 a.m.? Ask a librarian.

The Kern County Library participates in AskNow, which provides real-time access to a librarian in California from your computer 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Sessions usually last less than 15 minutes, and the librarian can either give you the answer or show you how to find the answer yourself, according to the Web site.

The librarians get several requests for genealogy and obituaries info, said Sherry Gomez, deputy director of libraries.

DATABASES, DIGITAL PHOTOS

From the comfort of your desk you can access roughly 60 electronic resources and databases.

For some of these, you will need a library card, but these are available for free from the library.

Here are some of the databases:

• Informe, a collection of articles from Hispanic magazines from around the world;

• Health and Wellness Resource Center, which provides access to health and medical publications;

• Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center, a social issues database that provides articles from all points of view;

• Auto Repair Reference Center, a database of repair information, wiring diagrams and a repair cost estimator;

• ReferenceUSA, a nationwide directory that provides information on businesses, competition, potential customers and legal actions;

• NewsBank, which provides full-text articles from 730 U.S. newspapers including The Bakersfield Californian, and

• Grolier Online, which provides information for school reports on states and countries.

The library also offers LearningExpress, which provides prep for tests including college entrance, Advanced Placement, law enforcement and the California Basic Educational Skills tests.

Patrons can also search for historical photos on two local history photo databases.

THE FUTURE OF LIBRARIES

Using the library as a source for quiet research and reflection isn’t completely gone.

That’s why Bakersfield resident Ashley Lee has frequented the Beale library lately. It gives her a place to study for her new job in pharmaceutical sales in peace.

“At home I would be running around and doing laundry,” the 35-year-old said. “And if I needed to look up an anatomy book, I could.”

Beale provides a sanctuary for 20-year-old Amanda Fryslie.

On a recent afternoon, she sat patiently waiting for a computer to check her e-mail.

“It’s particularly helpful if you want to get away from a home situation,” said Fryslie, who comes to the library almost every day. “It keeps me out of trouble.”

While quiet places can still be found, you only see librarians pulling books and telling people to hush in old movies, Ogilvie said.

Librarians are branching out into virtual worlds, like the computer-based virtual world Second Life.

“People will stop and ask you questions” in the virtual simulation, Ogilvie said. “In a way, that’s sort of where it’s going.”

While “Google has made almost anyone a librarian,” the need for librarians and libraries hasn’t diminished, she said.

If anything, they’re all the more important.

“When people can’t find the information with their simple Google search, they go to the library,” she said. “And the questions are getting even harder and more difficult.

“It’s even more important that we know what’s out there.”

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KERN COUNTY LIBRARY HISTORY

1866: People in Havilah, Kern’s first county seat, start a library association. Anyone could be a member for a $2 fee and 75 cents a month.

1894: Women in Kern City, which is now East Bakersfield, form a library association and turn an old schoolhouse into a library.

1896: The Kern Library Association turns the library facilities over to the City of Kern, and the library is moved to the old town hall. This becomes the Kern City Library, the first publicly supported library in the county.

Jan. 11, 1898: The City of Bakersfield is re-incorporated, and discussions about a public library start about two weeks later.

1899: Truxtun Beale, then Minister of Persia, wrote to S.M. Pogson, his agent in Kern, offering to build a library for Bakersfield. The city council accepts Beale’s generosity.

June 2, 1900: The library, a memorial to Gen. Edward Fitzgerald Beale, Kern pioneer and Truxtun Beale’s father, opens at 17th Street and Chester Avenue. The library was to be known as the Beale Memorial Library for “now and forever,” according to the transaction agreement.

1910: Bakersfield consolidates with the City of Kern, and the Kern City Library becomes the East Bakersfield branch of the Beale Memorial Library.

July 11, 1911: The Kern County Free Library is established in the basement of the county’s new $350,000 courthouse.

Feb. 28, 1922: The city council votes to consolidate the city and county libraries. Mayor George Haberfelde and the county supervisors agree to this more than a year later. The adult book collection is consolidated in the courthouse basement, and the Beale Memorial Library becomes the headquarters for children’s works.

Aug. 22, 1952: An earthquake hits Bakersfield, destroying the courthouse and Beale Library. The library is temporarily located in tents in the courthouse parking lot.

Oct. 7, 1957: The new central branch of the Kern County Library opens at 1315 Truxtun Ave.

June 2, 1966: The central branch was dedicated and re-named the Beale Memorial Library.

July 1986: Groundbreaking for a new Beale library.

April 30, 1988: The Beale library is dedicated at its current location at 701 Truxtun Ave.

Sources: “A History of Kern County Library,” compiled by Louise Blanford; The Kern County Library; Californian archives

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Originally published at http://www.bakersfield.com/138/story/420596.html on Saturday, April 19, 2008.

BEALE MEMORIAL LIBRARY 20TH ANNIVERSARY EVENTS

All events are free to the public and will take place at the Beale Memorial Library, 701 Truxtun Ave.

9:30 a.m. Monday, anniversary celebration kick-off and ribbon-cutting.

7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, author Mark Salzman talks about his work. Salzman received the New York Public Library’s Literary Lions Award and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for “Iron and Silk,” a memoir about his years in China.

2 to 3 p.m. Saturday, historian Chris Mayse will speak about the history of the Beale Air Force Base. Mayse will talk about the mission of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing and why an Air Force base was named after a Navy officer.

7 to 9 p.m. April 30, author, storyteller and musician David Holt will talk about tall tales, folk ballads, ghost stories and urban legends. Holt has won four Grammy Awards.

2 to 3 p.m. May 3, Mexican folk ballet by SoLuna.

7 to 8 p.m. May 6, Bakersfield Symphony presents a Bakersfield Classicus Clarinet Choir pops concert.

7 to 9 p.m. May 8, children’s author Marsha Arnold talks about her works “Roar of a Snore,” “Hugs on the Wind” and “Heart of a Tiger.” Her program is most appropriate for 3- to 7-year-olds.

2 to 4 p.m. May 10, local author and talk show host Terry Phillips discusses his first historical murder mystery, “Murder at the Altar.” Phillips is host of National Public Radio’s Quality of Life.

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LIBRARY ONLINE RESOURCES

The Kern County Library:
www.kerncountylibrary.org

Kern County Library blog: www.kerncountylibrary.blogspot.com

AskNow:
www.asknow.org/portal.cfm?lib=KERNCL

Electronic resources and databases: www.kerncountylibrary.org/databases.html

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Photos:

This is a front view of original Beale Memorial Library, which opened in 1900. It was named for Gen. Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a Kern pioneer. This photo was taken in the 1920s. (Photo courtesy of the Kern County Local History Photograph Collection, Kern County Library)

The original Beale Memorial Library opened in 1900 at northwest corner of 17th Street and Chester Avenue. It was damaged in 1952 by an earthquake, and no longer exists. The vine-covered reading-room pergola is visible on right side of photo. (Photo courtesy of the Kern County Local History Photograph Collection, Kern County Library)

This is the Boys and Girls' Library in the original Beale Memorial Library. (Photo courtesy of the San Joaquin Valley & Sierra Foothills Photo Heritage Collection, San Joaquin Valley Library System)

Margaret Newman worked for the Kern County Library until 1921. (Photo courtesy of the Kern County Local History Photograph Collection, Kern County Library)

Tents were set up for the library in the courthouse parking lot following the 1952 earthquake, which destroyed the library in the courthouse basement and the Beale Library. (Photo courtesy of the San Joaquin Valley & Sierra Foothills Photo Heritage Collection, San Joaquin Valley Library System)

This is a temporary building for the library after the 1952 earthquake destroyed the library in the courthouse basement and the Beale Library. This was taken in January 1953. (Photo courtesy of the San Joaquin Valley & Sierra Foothills Photo Heritage Collection, San Joaquin Valley Library System)

The second Beale Memorial Library building, which opened in 1957, was at 1315 Truxtun Ave. This building is now used by jury services and the public defender. (Photo courtesy of the Kern County Local History Photograph Collection, Kern County Library)

This is the first use of the auditorium by staff in the second Beale Memorial Library at 1315 Truxtun Ave. (Photo courtesy of the Kern County Local History Photograph Collection, Kern County Library)

Children sit around for story hour in the the Boys and Girls' Library in Beale Memorial Library. (Photo courtesy of the San Joaquin Valley & Sierra Foothills Photo Heritage Collection, San Joaquin Valley Library System)

Students from Richland School pose with craft animals at the Boys and Girls' Room at the Beale Memorial Library. This photo was take in 1962. (Photo courtesy of the San Joaquin Valley & Sierra Foothills Photo Heritage Collection, San Joaquin Valley Library System)

This is the current Beale Memorial Library after the 1999 snowfall. (Photo courtesy of the Kern County Local History Photograph Collection, Kern County Library)

Entertainment: Raising Bakersfield

American Kids Presents Parent Night Out Halloween Style!

Hey you: boo! Every day in October is Halloween with activities ghoul-ore

Photos:

Links:

Storytime Map

Pool and Spray Park Interactive Map

Bakersfield & Kern County Libraries Map

RaisingBakersfield.com: An online community space for parents debuts

Recession time: Family vacation planning and what to tell the kids

Parents need to prevent real-life ‘Kid Nation’

Beale Memorial Library celebrates 20 years; embraces new reference age

Photos: