Library To Host Second Annual How-To Festival

Featuring New Things to Learn
and New People to Teach More Than 50 Sessions
in 5 Hours for FREE Saturday, May 11

(Louisville, KY) April 11, 2013 —- Want to ace crossword puzzles? Raise chickens? Make a wedding cake on a budget? Ask for the raise you deserve at work?

Want to learn to make sushi? Juggle? Grow hot peppers? Bike cross-country? Use “office yoga” to reduce workday aches-and-pains?

These are just a sample of the more than 50 things people will be able to learn at the Louisville Free Public Library’s second annual How-To Festival, Saturday, May 11, 2013 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Main Library, 301 York Street.

Eighty local presenters turned out last year to create a non-stop lively interactive learning experience at the first How-To Festival – covering everything from making great barbeque to magic tricks, from taking better photographs to training your dog.

A few popular presenters will return. But most of this year’s How-To Festival is all-new with dozens of people ready to share a wide range of skills and passions from cooking to crafts, finance to flower-arranging, and travel to e-publishing.

Local musicians will perform and share how-to experiences – like how they write songs, get over stage fright and get their work heard. Among them are Brigid Kaelin; Carly Johnson and members of Liberation Prophecy; Steve Cooley of Hog Operation; Robbie Bartlett; Kyle James Hauser; Greg Acker and members of the Sweet Adelines.

Hands-on craft sessions will include jewelry making, weaving, felting, painting silk scarves, cartooning, and creating small tradable works of art. Dancing sessions will give attendees a chance to learn how to tango, square dance, dance Bollywood-style dance and recreate Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” dance.
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There will be classes about chocolate, cheese, classical music, hiking, golf, biking, sailing, dog and cat training, going back to college as an adult and how to make your home more energy-efficient. Long-time Courier-Journal book editor Keith Runyon will talk about how to live a life by the books and encourage discussion of books that make for a richer life.

For children and adults in their lives, there will be music-sharing and dancing for preschoolers, how to make great costumes and how to tell a great story. The Bernheim Gallery at the Library will display vintage how-to magazine illustrations from home fix-its to sewing and cooking.

“We now know that the most fun place to be is at the Main Library on the second
Saturday in May, said Library Director Craig Buthod. “To see so many of our patrons and neighbors of all ages gathered together to share and learn is the very picture of what a library should be. It is such a pleasure for us to offer this unique opportunity again.”

The How-To Festival is part of the Library’s ongoing mission of lifelong learning. The Library’s Tech Connects Team will conduct a series of sessions on how to use current technology and online resources, including how to borrow eBooks and eMagazines from the Library and how to access the Library’s new online Public Music Library.

Workshops and sessions are located in more than 20 different areas throughout the Main Library and outside on the grounds. Food trucks are available.

For more information, including a list and schedule of How-To Festival sessions as the date gets closer, go to LFPL.org/how-to.
What People Are Saying About the Library’s How-To Festival
“My mom and I spent the day at the ‘How-To’ festival, and had a BLAST. My purse now has recipes for healthy breakfasts I can’t wake to make when I get back to my apartment, notes on everything from small talk to self-publishing. Every speaker we listened to was engaging and enthusiastic, and I just wanted to say thank you and compliment everyone involved for such a well-organized, well-planned and fun event! . . . The point is that I really believe a library’s role in the community is to expand the world of the people who live there, and this event embodied and fulfilled that purpose wonderfully.”
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“I wanted to thank you so much for all time, effort, and planning that went into making today’s How-to Festival a huge success. I had a great time. There were so many appealing options. I hope this becomes an annual event.”

“I hope you do the How-To Festival next year. I will be your biggest cheerleader. I told someone it was a “smorgasbord of adventure.”