On March 26 outside of Lincoln Square Mall, there will be free books, supplies and fun activities for members of the Champaign-Urbana community. 

Geared toward families and children, Read Across America is a national celebration occurring every March. Its mission is to promote educational materials and a love of reading for children across the country. 

The Urbana Park District has run its own version of the event since 2000. This year’s event will be held in the parking lot outside of the Lincoln Square Mall and is free to the public. 

Matt Lewis, the community program coordinator for the Urbana Park District, is in charge of planning and running this year’s event. He is particularly excited about expanding the event after last year, where COVID-19 restricted what the event coordinators were able to do. 

“Last year was the first time we ever did something strictly outdoors; it was just a drive-through event,” Lewis said. “If it was a normal year, we would have a much bigger event, which we normally host indoors at Lincoln Square Mall with stage performers and other activities.”

“With having a strictly drive-through event, (the children) didn’t really get to pick their book. They just told us what they were interested in, and we tried to pick a book we thought they would like,” Lewis said.

In a normal year, Lewis says that the Urbana organizers usually give away anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 backpacks filled with supplies and a book of the child’s choice. 

They gave away around 430 bags last year, which is much less than their usual total. Though they still saw the event as a success for the people that were able to come, they wanted to make some improvements this year, especially as COVID-19 restrictions have loosened. 

“We realized that the experience for the kids was probably not the best,” Lewis said.

That’s why this year, they decided to make some changes. Firstly, they pushed the event further into March to increase the chances of warmer weather. 

Instead of being a drive-through, Lewis planned it as a walk-up event where families can walk up to different tents and have a say in what books and supplies they get. 

“It being a walk-up experience, they’re able to pick out their own books,” Lewis said, which he said he believes will engage the children more. The organizers also hope to offer a wider variety of books and supplies for them to choose from.

The free backpacks and books are not the only attraction at Read Across America. There are also several activities planned to engage the kids that come to the event. 

“We’re hoping to have some story reading tents as well,” Lewis said.

These tents would be set up throughout the parking lot for families to stop by and listen to stories from the books available at the event.  

Eventually, as even more COVID-19 restrictions loosen, the Urbana Park District hopes to continue to expand until it gets to the scale it was pre-COVID-19. 

Read Across America is just one of the Urbana Park District’s many programs that it runs throughout the year. Others include the Splash Afterschool Program, a summer theater camp and many different movement programs meant to engage children and families in the community. 

This year’s Read Across America event will be full of free supplies, fun and community building for the whole family. Lewis encourages people to come by and check out this event and others hosted by the Urbana Park District.

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