Silver City’s kids program filled with hands-on fun

SILVER CITY — This year, the theme for the summer kids’ program in Silver City is STEAM — Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. The program is on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon at Silver City’s shady park, 385 High St. The program ends Aug. 7.

The free program is open to any child ages 5 to 12. Parents are asked to stay and join in the fun and assist with clean up.

STEAM: Activities this year include lots of “hands-on” activities including science activities with Jim Barcellos of 4-H on July 17; art and music lessons with local professional artists and musicians; science activities on birds, bats, and bees with Linda Conlin of River Wranglers fame on July 24 and July 31 and annual favorites like activities at the community garden and park.

Summer Reading Program: The summer will include a reading program with incentives for reading for young children, and an end of summer science fiction party for teens and adults. The summer program includes access to Silver City’s Volunteer Library, which includes a large selection of classic science fiction and fantasy books, as well as board books for toddlers, easy readers for young children, and chapter books for older children.

Who’s Who on the Comstock: For teens and adults, there also will be an end-of-summer dinner panel who will provide an opportunity to taste locally grown food and to hear from people with important bodies of work in physics, permaculture, ornamental metal work, stone masonry, photography, music, art, film making, lapidary art, computer engineering, archaeology, writing and economic development. The panel will serve as a sort of “Who’s Who” of the Comstock, with all of the career models hailing from the Comstock region (Silver City, Gold Hill, Dayton and Virginia City).

Shakespeare at Sand Harbor: The program will conclude with a field trip to see “As You Like It,” a D.G. Menchetti Young Shakespeare production, at Sand Harbor Beach on Thursday, Aug. 7.

The youth program is funded, in part, by Healthy Communities Coalition, plus guest teachers from regional nonprofits such as 4-H, local fundraisers and donations and volunteer work from Silver City residents and groups. The program is an annual tradition in the community of Silver City, which is located in one of the National Historic Landmarks within Nevada. The town is home to the renowned Silver City Fireman’s Ball, to the world famous annual Ferrari Races, and to many well-known artists, musicians, archaeologists, artisans, and writers. It’s views of the Sierras and its historic buildings and sites attract visiting plein air painters and photographers from around the West.

For more information, contact Quest Lakes of Healthy Communities at 287-7598.