Riverview’s first Little Free Library is located at the Winthrop Arts Art Factory located at 11267 Winthrop Main Street. The library box was created by Winthrop resident, Allison Stainton and her dad, Jack Hebert.
The Little Free Library in Winthrop joins the ranks of over 75,000 library boxes located around the United States and in 88 countries worldwide.
Stainton had the library box created in honor of her daughter, Adaline’s first birthday. Stainton said, “I told our families that we wanted to put together a library for the community and asked for donations of books in lieu of gifts. My father offered to build the library as his contribution which was incredibly kind of him, and we were thrilled to have him be a part of this project.”
Stainton explained why she chose the Art Factory as the location. “I wanted the library to be somewhere in the community where there is a decent amount of foot traffic, so people would see it and use it. I reached out to Winthrop Arts asking for ideas of where we could place it, and they offered to house it at the Art Factory,” explained Stainton.
Bryant Martinez, the Winthrop Town Artist and Lead Art Instructor at the Art Factory said, “I love the idea of having a Little Free Library at the Art Factory. We have made some small art books and added them to the library box. I hope that everyone will enjoy borrowing books from the library box at the Art Factory.”
Little Free Library is a non-profit organization founded by Todd Bol who passed away in October. According to the Little Free Library’s website, Bol had a vision of the world where neighbors know each other by name, and everyone has access to books.
“I love that Little Free Libraries promote literacy and make these resources available to individuals who may not have access to them otherwise. Children are spending a lot less time reading books and playing outdoors. I hope this gets them excited about doing something that does not involve an electronic device. These libraries create a sense of community which I absolutely love,” said Stainton.
For more information, please visit www.littlefreelibrary.org and www.winthroparts.org.
