Children and teens of all ages are invited to join the Oxford Memorial Library for their Easter egg hunt and craft day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 1. (Sun file photo)

OXFORD — The Oxford Memorial Library, located at 8 Fort Hill Park in Oxford, will be hosting an Easter egg hunt and crafts from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday, April 1.

The egg hunt is open to children and teens of all ages. Participants will receive a card with lists of A through Z and one through 10 before setting off into the library to search for the corresponding eggs. Instead of collecting the eggs like a traditional Easter egg hunt, the library's search is structured more like a scavenger hunt.

"I hid them all over the library, and then each person gets a card with those letters and numbers on there, and they check them off or color in the boxes as they go. Each one they find they just check off that box," explained Youth Services and Programming Coordinator Jessica Tefft. "So they’re not going to be moving the eggs. They just go and check them off."

Once all the boxes are checked off on the card, participating kids will then receive a goodie bag with candy and a children's book donated by Fidelis.

Tefft said Fidelis has a long history with the Oxford Library, starting when they would set up tables in the library to hold insurance consultations. From there, they began supporting various events and programs at the library as well.

"This time they reached out and asked if we were doing anything special, and we missed the month of February for our programs, so they jumped on board with the egg hunt. It worked out great," said Tefft.

Fidelis will also be providing a fun Easter craft for attending children, in addition to a craft provided by the library. Using stick-on, holiday bows, attendees will get to create their own spring flower masterpiece.

Tefft said local middle schoolers have even gotten involved with the event, helping to prepare the materials for Saturday's craft.

"I have some middle schoolers that come and hang out here on Fridays, and they’re helping me do the prep work for that particular craft tomorrow. So they help prepping for all the little kids that’ll be here on Saturday," she said. "They’re starting to get excited because my original little kid group is going back up through now, and so now they’re back and they’re like ‘yay, now we can help with the little kids. We used to do this stuff.’ So they’re excited."

In addition to the Easter festivities, the Oxford Memorial Library has several other fun programs planned throughout the month.

On the third Thursday of each month, the library holds a family game night at 5:30 p.m., and on the fourth Friday of the month at 5:30 p.m. they host a family movie night, complete with a family-friendly movie, popcorn, and drinks.

On April 20, a representative from the Four County Library System will be stopping by the Oxford Library to show cardholders how to access and use Ancestry.com, which is available for free to any Four County Library System cardholder.

"If you have a library card and you come to the library, we pay for it, and we have access to Ancestry on there," explained Tefft. "If you log in on our computer with the library card you get access to a lot more for free. So you don’t have to pay for it, and you get more access to stuff. So he’s going to come and show you how to access all of that, how to get in there and see what is available."

"You could either get a library card here, take it up to Norwich, Binghamton, Greene, Edmeston, you know, all over and use it there, and vice versa. If you had a Norwich card you could come here and use it, too," she added. "You can return books at other libraries too, as long as they’re part of the Four County. We’ll take it back to the library for you, too."

Tefft also encourages library visitors and supporters to complete their community survey, to help library staff form a new long-range plan for the library.

"We are doing a survey at the moment looking for a lot of feedback from our community, because we’re looking into doing a new long-range plan for the library," Tefft said. "So we want to know if anybody has any input of what we should do with the building itself, what we should be offering, is our staff adequate enough for everybody, what do they want to see done here, or not done."

The survey can be found on the Oxford Memorial Library and Youth Services Facebook page, and paper copies can be completed at the Oxford Memorial Library.

For more information on the Oxford Memorial Library, visit the Oxford Memorial Library and Youth Services Facebook page or visit OxfordMemorialLibrary.org.