Taniya Patterson, of Huntington, left, and her little sisters Jailynn, 7, and Kamila, 7, browse through the Cabell County Public LibraryÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Story Walk panels on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, at Ritter Park in Huntington.
Taniya Patterson, of Huntington and her little sisters Kamila, 7, and Jailynn, 7, read pages from the Cabell County Public LibraryÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Story Walk panels on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, at Ritter Park in Huntington.
Jailynn Patterson, 7, of Huntington, left, and her sister Kamila Patterson, 7, read pages from the Cabell County Public Library's Story Walk panels on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, at Ritter Park in Huntington.
Taniya Patterson, of Huntington, left, and her little sisters Jailynn, 7, and Kamila, 7, browse through the Cabell County Public LibraryÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Story Walk panels on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, at Ritter Park in Huntington.
Taniya Patterson, of Huntington and her little sisters Kamila, 7, and Jailynn, 7, read pages from the Cabell County Public LibraryÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Story Walk panels on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, at Ritter Park in Huntington.
Jailynn Patterson, 7, of Huntington, left, and her sister Kamila Patterson, 7, read pages from the Cabell County Public Library's Story Walk panels on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025, at Ritter Park in Huntington.
HUNTINGTON ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” There is a fun new way to get your reading and steps in at the same time.
A story walk is now open at Ritter Park. Created by the Cabell County Public Library, itÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s a series of 20 plaques that each display a page from a childrenÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s book. The trail of pages begins near the playground by the zipline.
The first book chosen for the project was ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œBaby BearÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s Books,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Melissa Sweet.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œMy favorite part, was coming up with activities on each page for them to do, like they may have had to count how many birds were on the page,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ said Stacy Richardson Bond, the librarian who created and printed the pages. ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œOr baby bear and his brother bouncing and jumping on the bed ... they had to jump to the next page, so itÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s pulling them in even more by doing those activities.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥
In October 2020, the library did a story walk in partnership with local businesses downtown. At Ritter Park, visitors can walk under a canopy of trees as they stop at each panel, read the page and do the suggested activity.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œWe finally get to move forward and do things that have been put on hold for years essentially, and I just thought what better way to give back to the community and to do something that represents the library and the parks than to put a story walk in a public park,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ said Breana Bowen, library director.
There will be a new story cycled in every one to three months, as this is a permanent installation in the park. The library has to go through a permission process with the bookÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s publisher, author and illustrator before it can be printed for the story walk.
ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œMore than anything, we do hear from our people and we love that, but to be able to see people enjoying it, thatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s absolutely beautiful, and thatÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s why weÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™re here,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Bowen said.
