One-Day How-To Festival Hosts Dozens Of Workshops Exploring Crafts and Hobbies

During the How To Festival at the Lansing Public Library, 27 different topics or hobbies were covered including sessions on hair braiding and how to take better photos on a cell phone. Photo Credit: Lansing Public Library/Daniel Cuthbert
During the How To Festival at the Lansing Public Library, 27 different topics or hobbies were covered including sessions on hair braiding and how to take better photos on a cell phone. Photo Credit: Lansing Public Library/Daniel Cuthbert

One-Day How-To Festival Hosts Dozens Of Workshops Exploring Crafts and Hobbies

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

The Lansing Public Library recently hosted their first How To Festival that featured several 30-minute seminars and workshops that each focused on a different topic and explored crafting techniques, provided valuable information and taught new skills.

This was the first How-To Festival that was held in Lansing and Debbie Albrecht, director of the Lansing Public Library, said that she was inspired by the Louisville Public Library where a massive How-To Festival is held every year with over 100 different workshops.

“The How-To Festival seemed like a really fun way for people to learn some new things that they might know nothing about and spark someone’s interest in something. That’s kind of the premise of the whole thing. You might pick up something you didn’t know or you might decide that you like to make crepes or you like to knit or you want to learn how to take better pictures with your iPhone or whatever it is,” said Albrecht.

Throughout the day, there were a variety of presenters, some were library staff members while others were not. Each session lasted half an hour and included 27 different topics or hobbies.

During some of the best-attended sessions, participants learned everything from how to braid hair, how to take photos with a cell phone and a representative from a local coffee shop gave a presentation about terminology related to coffee.

The Lansing Public Library has a second How-To Festival already scheduled for Feb. 9 and see the event as a way for people to get out of the house and learn something new during the winter months.

Like many other public libraries, the Lansing Library has been offering a robust calendar of free programming throughout the year from free concerts to guest speakers and authors to crafting workshops.

Albrecht added events have become really important for libraries and while people use the library for traditional purposes such as finding books and using computers to find jobs, they’ve also become free spaces where members of the community can come together and have fun.

To keep people engaged and interested in the schedule of events, the Lansing Public Library tries to pay attention to current trends and programming for people of all ages. To see a full list of upcoming events or for more information, please visit www.lansingpl.org.

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