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Welcome to Springs and Things, the podcast where two close friends spill the tea on all things Colorado Springs! From culture and community to hidden gems and neighborhood lore, we’ve got it covered. Join us as we sip our coffee (or maybe something stronger) and dive into the stories and secrets that make this city so unique. Whether you're a local or just passing through, our fun, light-hearted, and always entertaining take on the quirks, hot topics, and insider tips will keep you coming back for more. Discover what’s really happening in the Springs—beyond the mountains and parks!
This summer, Lauren and I are trading our usual coffee dates for library dates, and we could not be more excited. Recorded live from Library 21 C on kickoff day, this episode takes you inside the Pikes Peak Library District Summer Adventure Program. We sat down with Melody Alvarez, director of programming, to cover the Unearth a Story theme, how to sign up, what the program entails, and the prizes that had Lauren bouncing out of her seat because adults can play and win amazing prizes too. Then we head into the library's podcast studio for the second half of the interview with Krista Funke, a sixteen year Pikes Peak Library District veteran who reveals just how much a library can be these days. You guys, there are so many things they offer that I genuinely had never heard of from free escape rooms to maker spaces to free lunches at the East Library and so so much more.
Carly Ries:And then she shares a heartfelt story that captures what all of this is all about. So whether you're a lifelong library lover or haven't been in years, sure to grab your calendar, listen in, and come adventure with us. And this episode is brought to you by the Pikes Peak Library District as well as Vanguard Aesthetics. You guys, it is getting hot out there. Do not forget that sunscreen.
Carly Ries:Hey, everyone. I'm Carly.
Lauren Ferrara:And I'm Lauren.
Carly Ries:We're two Colorado Springs locals who love uncovering everything that makes the city special. If you're the kind of person who
Lauren Ferrara:wants to know where to go, what's happening, and the stories behind it all, then you're in the right place. Welcome to Springs and Things, your insider's path to hidden gems, local flavor, and unexpected moments that make The Springs one of its kind. From secret spots and campus events to arts, eats, and those you've gotta hear about at local stories.
Carly Ries:We've got you covered.
Lauren Ferrara:So grab your coffee, settle in, and get ready to fall a little more in love with Colorado Springs.
Carly Ries:Let's dive in to Springs and Things. Lauren, if listeners thought that we were giddy on our episode last week where we first started talking about the summer adventure program, How do you think they'll respond this week when we're actually interviewing? We are
Lauren Ferrara:at Library 21 C. This is actually not even my first library visit of the day. I was at the Cheyenne Mountain Library earlier today because I had a book waiting for me. I'm obsessed with our library system. It is just the greatest.
Lauren Ferrara:But yeah. So this was day one of sign up for the summer adventure program, and we are the Ferraris are all signed up. So are the Reese's.
Carly Ries:And I actually I feel very VIP right now. Oh, yeah? Because we are sitting with Melody Alvarez, who's the director of programming, and it's an hour before, like, kickoff. Right? I mean, the every registration is open right now, but the music is starting in an hour.
Carly Ries:The whole thing is kicking out this afternoon, and we get a two on one interview with her. Yes.
Lauren Ferrara:And I brought my kiddos because they were super excited about it. And we're here. They're picking out their prizes, and it's gonna be an a great summer. And I just love I love that it's not I mean, I love to read, but I love that it's not just about reading. It's also about adventuring.
Lauren Ferrara:It's also about creating and the library has like so many opportunities for that.
Carly Ries:It sure does. Well, Melody Lauren and I have a habit of talking and we can just keep going and going. So I'm gonna give the mic to you because we're so excited to have you. First of all, welcome
Melody Alvarez:to the show. Thank you for having us. And for anyone who's so Lauren and
Lauren Ferrara:I feel like everybody has heard of
Carly Ries:this because we totally geek out over this stuff, but we know that isn't necessarily the case. So for anyone who's never heard of summer adventure with PPLD, give us the elevator pitch. What is it, and why should every family in the Springs know about it?
Melody Alvarez:Okay. So summer adventure presented by the Friends of the Pikes Peak Library District is our largest summer reading program. And I like to say it's the largest in the city. So that's why everyone should know about it. But it happens all of June and July, and all you have to do is recreate or explore for thirty days.
Melody Alvarez:And you're already doing that at home or, you know, just every day if someone is doing that already. So we feel like, you just have to track it. And that's all. And it's a great program, so everyone should know about it.
Lauren Ferrara:Okay. Tell us about the theme for
Melody Alvarez:this year. The theme this year is Unearth a Story. And so there's a collaborative summer library program that all states could participate in if they want to. So you'll see that theme at different libraries throughout the country. We use that theme just to kind of give us ideas and help guide us towards, like, what type of programs we're gonna offer.
Melody Alvarez:So you'll see a lot of dinosaurs in the libraries, a lot of dinosaur themed type programs.
Lauren Ferrara:Ferraris are super into dinosaurs these days, so that's good stuff. Oh my gosh. You live with a baby dinosaur. Yes. The leopard gecko, lilac.
Lauren Ferrara:I I really pushed for Lizzo to name our lizard Lizzo, but I got outvoted by the child that actually owns a lizard. So tell us a little bit about, like, what happened? Like, okay, so you you can how do you sign up? What happens the moment you sign up? What walk us through.
Melody Alvarez:Yeah. So you could go into any library location. You could sign up online or through our Beanstack app, and you just start reading or exploring or creating. And even if, say, you come in and it's July 1, you could count everything you did in June
Carly Ries:towards the program. Okay.
Melody Alvarez:Was my next question because
Lauren Ferrara:I was wondering, like, are you too late if you start later in the summer or mid summer?
Melody Alvarez:No. Because we know that you're doing it for thirty days ever since well, even now, right? Like, even in May. And so we're counting that time.
Carly Ries:I love that because thirty days can seem like a real commitment. Like, maybe people are super excited the first five days and they're like, man, we're in it. And then vacations come up and this and that. So I'm so glad it goes the full two months. But what keeps families motivated?
Carly Ries:Do you think to stick with it all summer? Because you've had great turnouts every summer in participation.
Melody Alvarez:I think now that we added adults and families could participate, you know, that's helping the adults because you're already reading to your children, right? So now it's like, we see that. We're gonna count that, and we're gonna give you a price for doing it.
Carly Ries:Can I reenact Lauren's reaction? We'll talk about prizes just now, but Lauren's reaction when she found out what the adult prizes.
Melody Alvarez:Oh my god.
Lauren Ferrara:I'm like bouncing in my seat right now. Is that was that my reaction?
Carly Ries:Even more so. Was almost like Tom Cruise on a couch type of style with.
Lauren Ferrara:It was kinda like that, but I love how this like. I mean, yeah, I my child is sitting here and she's probably about to start nodding, but I do have my kids do, you know, read for 30, do math for thirty minutes, and then we do little field trips and stuff. So I love that you gamify what we're a lot of us are already doing and making it fun. Think again, she's nodding knowing that there are prizes makes it much more worthwhile. Well, let's talk about some
Carly Ries:more of these prizes because, again, we both got very giddy about the idea of night at Cloud Camp. There's some of the other prizes. Obviously, that's not one of the kid prizes. So what else can
Melody Alvarez:people get? Yeah. So anyone 18 and under could get a free book or journal when they register. And so we love that because we feel like we're helping to build that home library. So we love being able to put books in kids' hands and teens' hands.
Melody Alvarez:And then when you complete the program, we have some brag tags. I don't know if you guys notice or if this is popular in your school, but like all the charms on the backpack. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So that's what's cool about the brag tags because it's like stuff you could put on your backpack.
Lauren Ferrara:I love that. Okay. So what are the most fun things for me and Carly to do together? Because we love we love our little dates.
Carly Ries:We're already putting the the escape room on our calendar. So what else is there?
Melody Alvarez:There's a tea blend workshop coming up. I'm into that. Yeah. There's a lot of fun programs coming up. What I'm really looking forward to for our teens is the teen glow extravaganza.
Melody Alvarez:It's like our one big program for teens and it's all glow in the dark and neon. So it's a lot of fun. We're gonna have a DJ and just last year drew in, like, over 60 teens. So it's it's pretty cool.
Christa Funke:Yeah. The participation is really
Carly Ries:remarkable. It's unbelievable. What kind of numbers do you see, Summer?
Melody Alvarez:So last year we had over 18,000 participate. So our goal this year is 20,000. So everyone come out and register. But, yeah, we see a lot of we see a lot of participation. Our programs get big numbers over the summer.
Carly Ries:So you were saying you're really excited about that that party for teens. Anything else that you're personally really excited about?
Melody Alvarez:Yeah. There's a lot of things. The concerts. So we have our summer concerts this year. We this is something new.
Melody Alvarez:You know, I'm a working mom. I my daughter never gets to come to the library. And so I always think about that when we're planning stuff, like when can working parents bring their kids to events? And so our summer concerts, we're able to offer them in the evening, weekend, and then during the day. So I'm really excited about that because we're able to expand it throughout El Paso County.
Lauren Ferrara:Okay. If you could tell every person in Colorado Springs one thing about what the library can do
Carly Ries:for them this summer, what would it be?
Melody Alvarez:There's so many different things, but the coolest thing is everything's free.
Carly Ries:Oh, yeah.
Melody Alvarez:So we have a concert with the Colorado College Summer Orchestra, and they're coming in and bringing the concert, the orchestra to kids, and they talk about the instruments and everything. And I would say, you know, programs like that, it's really expensive to take a family to. So the fact that you get to come to the public library for free and see all of that. So families have that opportunity to do so many fun programs for free. Everything is free at the library.
Melody Alvarez:Makerspaces, sewing classes, studio, like you could check out equipment. There's so much here.
Carly Ries:Well, last week's episode, we were talking we highlighted, like, Wishing a Star Farm, and we talked about the Tesla escape room and everything, and how much did you say you spent on the escape rooms
Lauren Ferrara:as for Oh, the difference in I was up in Breckenridge, and it was, $50 a person. So, like, $200 later, I was like, oh gosh. That one that one hurt. But yeah. So I thought it was so cool that you offer things like that for free.
Lauren Ferrara:And also, was just thinking about, of course, because we're at 20 one c. Yeah. The like, there's a podcasting studio. I when I started my business, I could check out cameras, microphones, lights, the whole shebang for free. It's insane.
Lauren Ferrara:So whenever anybody starts a business, I'm like, you need to go talk to the people at the library.
Carly Ries:It's very exciting, and we're going to have round two of this interview with Krista coming up, but we just wanted to say thank you so much. We know today is so busy, and we're so excited. Can you remind people again how they can register?
Melody Alvarez:Yes. So you could go to any of our Pikes Peak Library District locations, or you could register online or through the Beanstack app.
Carly Ries:Oh, lovely. We're so excited.
Melody Alvarez:Thank you so much. Thank you.
Carly Ries:Okay. So we were able to do a round two of the interview that gives you a sneak peek into other incredible things happening at the library this summer that I genuinely had no idea existed. But before we get to it, let's hear what a few repeat attendees had to say about the program, as well as some cool details about the free concert series happening with PPLD this summer. Okay, Claire. You just signed up for the Summer Adventure program.
Carly Ries:What are you most excited for?
Claire:Well, I think it's gonna be fun collecting prizes. I'm gonna do, like, a pattern where it goes read, explore, create, And each day, I'll do one of them.
Carly Ries:That sounds awesome. Thanks for telling me. Is this your first summer adventure, or have
Lauren Ferrara:you done this in years past? We've done it in years past.
Carly Ries:So what brings you back year after year? Something else to motivate the kids to do it
Attendee:rather than just me telling them you have to read, you
Carly Ries:have to read. Oh, you are preaching to the choir here. Is there anything that they're particularly most excited about this summer or that you're most excited about?
Attendee:I think just all of it. I mean, we read the list of prizes that we're excited about. And last year, we didn't win anything,
Carly Ries:which they were sad about. But for a
Attendee:month, they were still asking afterwards, do we get the notice? Do we get the notice? And so I
Carly Ries:think it's just also the anticipation of maybe. It's your redemption year.
Attendee:Yeah. Yeah. Maybe we'll get somewhere. Perfect.
Carly Ries:Be best. Don't be reading. So it's a win win across the board. Yeah. Brian, you seem to be in tune with the concert series happening this summer.
Carly Ries:Can you tell us a little bit about
Christa Funke:Oh, excellent. We'll be doing a series of concerts both in Manitou Springs and in Palmer Lake. And they're in June and July in Manitou, Palmer Lake in August. We have a wonderful lineup of local musicians. It's for the whole family, for adults, for kids, all kinds of music.
Christa Funke:We have band music, some country western music, some pop music, some acoustic music, wonderful local musicians. The ones in Manitou are held at the lawn near the library on Wednesday evenings. The ones in Palmer Lake will be in August and they're held in the Village Green And Gazebo, which is next to the library on Fridays from six to seven plus there will also be one out at High Prairie on July 31, Friday in the evening. A wonderful group will be there called Some Sweet Day. They sing a lot of great music.
Christa Funke:Check out ppld.org for more information, the lineups, the times. No cost for any of us. Just go out and have a good time.
Carly Ries:So before we get into the second half of our interview, let's hear a quick word from some of our other amazing sponsors. So if you've been following the show, you know that Lauren and I have been on a bit of a skincare journey together. And we have to give a big shout out to our friends at Vanguard Aesthetics for making that happen. I just had my second IPL treatment and full transparency, everyone's results are going to be different, but mine have been really noticeable. Like, people are asking what I'm doing noticeable.
Carly Ries:Their team takes the time to understand your skin, your goals, and what actually makes sense for you. So if you've been curious about leveling up your skincare, check out Vanguard Aesthetics. Their link is in our show notes. And then, of course, we have to give a quick shout out to our Core Collective Pilates who's been with us since the beginning. Here's what we love about them.
Carly Ries:It is so easy to make core collective part of your routine. You go once, you feel amazing, book the next class, and suddenly it's just part of your week, and it just is a part of you. That's what happened to us, and I hear the same thing from so many of our listeners. Whether you're brand new to Pilates or have been at it for years, their studio just has this energy that keeps you coming back. Use code Springs and Things, all caps, no spaces at checkout to get three classes for just $30, not just $10 a class, which is unheard of.
Carly Ries:Their link is in our show notes as well. And you guys, Lauren's company, Why Wait Stories, creates legacy films and brand films that capture the stories that matter most, whether that's your family's history, a milestone in your life, or the story behind your business. The whole idea is simple. Do not wait. The best time to preserve these moments and these voices is right now.
Carly Ries:If you have been thinking about it, just go to whitewhitestories.com and start the conversation. Trust me. Future you will be so glad you did. I cannot wait to hear the final recording and release of this episode because we were so excited there. We are here on the kickoff day for the summer adventure program, and that we had the background noise.
Carly Ries:We were just kind of flying by the seat of our pants recording. And Krista, we are now here in the library's sound booth in the podcast studio, and I feel so VIP right now. And I am so excited to hear like the ambient noise part. And now the we're so professional, I feel like I'm on a TV show right now, and maybe it's just me. Do you feel this way?
Christa Funke:No, it's very cool. It's like we're doing voiceover work or something.
Carly Ries:I know. It's so fun. Well, okay, now I should probably introduce you because that would be the polite thing to do for our audience as well. You guys, this is Krista Funke. She is the senior librarian in programming with the Pikes Peak Library District.
Carly Ries:She's been here for sixteen years. So she knows a thing or two about what happens here. And again, the first part of this episode, we heard a lot about the Summer Adventure Program. We interviewed families. Lauren and I got set up with the program.
Carly Ries:We're already diving into things. So today I thought we'd go a little bit deeper. And so again, we came from the energy of the amazing kickoff. Christa, when you see something like that come together, what goes through your mind as one of the people who helped build it?
Christa Funke:There's joy, there's excitement, there's some relief. We spend a lot of time planning this program. We start in August, so we really don't take time off. It's a huge collaboration, a huge effort among different departments. So it's really, really rewarding to see just how much the community loves it, how excited they get.
Christa Funke:And it's always great when it's
Carly Ries:a when it's a success. So you are running programs in 14 library locations across the district. Here's what's amazing to Lauren and I. We feel like this is catered to us. We, our kids are doing it.
Carly Ries:It seems so personal. So how do you feel? How do you
Christa Funke:do something that is this big and make it feel personal and community driven? Yeah. So we serve nearly 700,000 residents across 2,070 square miles of El Paso County. So we have to rely heavily on the staff who work at each of our libraries to give that personal feel. We also have our bookmobiles that go to lots of places as well.
Christa Funke:And the staff are amazing at really putting that personal feel on things. They engage our patrons, they make them feel special and welcome at their home libraries. They give us feedback, they give us ideas, and then they select programs that we offer that they think will fit their community's needs. So we've worked really hard to make the game part of Summer Adventure, the part where you track your reading or other activities and earn the prizes, as simple and straightforward as possible. So families and individuals can choose what works best for them to complete the program and encourage continued learning through the summer.
Christa Funke:And we've made it available for all ages so anyone can participate.
Carly Ries:Do you just see the most random things with these kids, especially? Yeah. I mean, they
Christa Funke:love to come in and get their books. I always say that I love reshelving after kids come through the library because they always put the books in upside down and backwards. So it's super easy to tell. It's when they get a little older and they try to
Lauren Ferrara:be helpful that we're like,
Carly Ries:where did the book go? Fair. Fair. So Lauren and I are so excited. We've gotten our calendars out.
Carly Ries:We've plotted the programs that we want to go to because what I love is that it's not for most of them, they're happening multiple times throughout the Summer Adventure program and in multiple locations. So how does your team come up with these programs?
Christa Funke:I work with very creative coworkers. We rely on a lot. We get some great ideas from other staff members because there's lots of creative people. We have teen advisory boards who give us some ideas for our teen programs. We kind of scour the internet and see what are other libraries doing?
Christa Funke:What's popular on social media? What's something in pop culture? And sometimes we'll take a program and kind of tweak it and make sure it works for our location. Sometimes it's kind of an abstract idea that we're like, we want to do this and kind of build something. For example, we have an escape room, a Nikola Tesla themed escape room.
Christa Funke:It's actually a reuse of a program that was really successful that we originally ran for teens and was tied into the Colorado 150 USA 250 Celebrations. Adults really want to do our escape rooms. Now we're offering it for adults. I also have a coworker who, she's the one who goes and researches and finds presenters to come in and do those fun things like dinosaur yoga, make sure that we have lots of stuff happening across the district at all of our libraries, make sure it works at our libraries. So yeah, lots of research and ideas and brainstorming and testing things out and seeing if they'll work.
Carly Ries:I literally took like thirty minutes the other day just to schedule out what we want to do with the Pikes Peak Library District this summer. And I think I got through like July 5. So, so much more to do. But speaking of the Pikes Peak Library District, let's step away from the Summer Adventure Program for a second. Libraries are no longer the quiet place where you check out your books.
Carly Ries:Obviously there are places to be quiet, to be respectful, everybody. But we're standing in a state of the art studio right now, recording this episode. How has the district changed
Christa Funke:it for a person that hasn't gone to a library in a while? What can they expect now? There's a lot of stuff that they can do at the library that they can check out from the library that is not those stereotypical, you know, books, CDs, movies kind of things. We have a lot of resources. For example, I have a friend who was telling me about his plans for the future.
Christa Funke:He wants to start a nonprofit. He had no idea. We have a librarian with the district who focuses on helping nonprofits and getting resources to them. We also have librarian who focuses on business resources and one who focuses on law resources. Although I am required to give the disclaimer that none are lawyers and none can give legal advice, but we have those We have tons of non traditional items.
Christa Funke:We have seed libraries at three of our libraries, where if you're interested in gardening, you can go check out some seeds, plant them, and then return the seeds from your harvest. And that kind of helps make those, as it grows, it makes it kind of more hearty or adapted to the climate. We have at six of our libraries, if you're a parent of young children and you don't want to go buy that giant folding, wooden gross motor toy thing that is kind of expensive without trying it, you can check it out, try it at home. We have things like the studio here. We have makerspaces.
Christa Funke:We have, depending on your location, you can check out board games. You can check out lawn games. You can check out, cameras and lighting equipment. You can, there's just so much that you can do in the library.
Carly Ries:Okay, you're right. There is so much. Can you, every time I come here, I discover something new. Every time I get on your website and discover something new, what's the best, best way for somebody to like keep a pulse on everything that's happening and to explore all of this?
Christa Funke:Yeah, there's so much. I think going to our website and just clicking around and clicking on things like what's new or just trying the different tabs, seeing what's at the library, what to check out. It is kind of hard to keep track of it. Another great way is to just come into the library, ask a staff member, kind of look around. We usually have displays and things.
Christa Funke:You can go on the app on the, we have a PPLD app on your phone. You can follow us on social media. We post a lot of stuff that we're doing on our Facebook and different social media. So you can find out a lot about that there. But yeah, come on in
Carly Ries:and check it out. Well, Ed, you have so much going on and it's funny because even movies are getting expensive these days. And when I walked in today, Piper on your team was making an announcement about, about a goofy movie playing. And it's like, you can come watch a movie here. Is that true?
Christa Funke:Yeah. So we do have, we do have the ability to show movies and so different of our libraries will, will choose to do movies. That particular one, was for our library explorers, which, is programs that we offer for patrons who come in with like day groups and adult groups like that. And so we want to offer something specifically for them. We also will do like family movies or senior movies or things like that.
Christa Funke:So check out the calendar to see which libraries are showing movies. I know one library will do kind of like a poll for their patrons. Will there be like, which movie do you want to see at the end of the month and have people like vote on it? See, all these things are so cool. Okay.
Carly Ries:I want to circle back to the Summer Adventure program really quick. Is there a moment from this past program that really stuck out with you, whether it
Christa Funke:were like tugged at your heartstrings or anything like that? I will say I love just seeing kids grow up through the program and seeing them when they're little and then older. But there really is a story that tugs at my heart from last year. We love hearing about our patron stories, either staff tell us or we do a survey where people will give us feedback every year. And there is this one story in a survey that the mom was talking about how her son just refused to do the Summer Adventure Program because he struggled with reading and he just, he didn't like it.
Christa Funke:But the librarian there just took time to figure out something that might interest him and find a book. And she just saw over the summer his confidence grow. He started reading more independently, actually wanting to take books with him on errands and things like that. And she ended it with, and I'll quote what she ended it with. She ended the story by saying, My heart is so full.
Christa Funke:Thank you. To which I couldn't agree more. That is what summer adventure is about, making reading exciting and fun and letting kids or anyone of any age choose the books that they wanna read and really get invested in it.
Carly Ries:Okay. So beyond summer adventure, we've talked about other things you guys are doing, but what else is happening at PPLD this year? PPLD is the cool way to say Pikes Peak Library District that people should have on their radar.
Christa Funke:Yeah, so we are looking at making three of our small libraries, the ones that are not very large, they're not open a whole lot during the week, into hybrid libraries. Which means that while they're still gonna have traditionally staffed hours where you come in and they're staffed there to answer your questions and help you out, it's gonna greatly increase access to books and computers and holds and things like that because there'll also be times when the library is not staffed. All of the details, all of the safety, all of that is being worked out, but that is something to look forward to in the future.
Carly Ries:Okay. And really quick, I also heard a rumor that they're doing lunches at the East Library.
Christa Funke:True or false? That is true. So we work with community partners, like District eleven and every weekday, except July 3, between 11AM and noon, Anyone ages zero to 18 can get a free lunch at the East Library. Are you kidding me? No, we offer lots of things in the library.
Carly Ries:Okay, so I heard that and I just, I was like, there's no way that that's real. And it's real. It is real, you guys. The library is just such a gem in this city. Okay, you guys have something else going on this summer that I also signed up for in tandem with the Summer Adventure program, which is the passport.
Carly Ries:Can you explain what that is? Yes. So this year is the, I have difficulty saying this word, so excuse me if I get it wrong, but
Christa Funke:it is the Sesquise Semi Quincentennial or the Colorado one hundred and fifty US two fifty anniversary. And as part of that, we are doing a big celebration at all of our libraries and the passport's part of that. The passport is a cool little passport booklet that you can pick up at any library location and you get a stamp for each library you visit. So it's a great way to check out each library, see what makes them unique. You get prizes when you get to half of the libraries and another prize when you have visited all of the libraries.
Christa Funke:And we also have open houses. Now we're halfway through the years, so several of them have already happened, but there's still a lot going on and you can go to that library and do fun things, learn about it. It's It s a great time to get your passport stamped and have a special event to go to when you go to those open houses.
Carly Ries:Okay, let s wrap up with one quick pick of the week because I have heard such good things about Theater Works, The Garbologist, running June 11 through the twenty eighth at the Ent Center for the Arts. It the plot to me just sounds so unique. So let me just read this because I I think it sounds fascinating. Danny is a white blue collar born and bred New Yorker. Marlow is black Ivy League educated, and they just joined the sanitation department.
Carly Ries:They've got one thing in common, the route. And over the course of countless trash pickups, this odd couple bickers, bonds, and uncovers unexpected truths about themselves and the city they serve. It's a heartfelt comedy about finding connection in the mess of everyday life. And you guys, it is closing out their fiftieth season with grit, laughter, and plenty of trash talk. Anyway, I've heard wonderful things.
Carly Ries:Definitely go check it out. It looks like a good one. And you guys, again, I just wanna say we're sitting in this state of the art studio. And if you're like, man, that sounds great. I wanna start a podcast or I wanna record a video in a studio that looks like a TV station or anything, do it.
Carly Ries:And you know what? You could even get an awesome, awesome, awesome tech guy here to support you if you have no idea what you're doing. I'm a podcast host. I have no idea what I'm doing in this kind of studio. And he is here.
Carly Ries:Okay.
Christa Funke:If someone listening has never set foot in a Pikes Peak Library District Library, which who are you if you are that listener, what would you say to get them through the door this summer? I would say that everyone belongs at the library because we have something for everyone. We really do. We have things from like pre birth because we have our prenatal classes for parents that we do to connect them to community resources all the way up through your golden years. Have senior specific programming.
Christa Funke:Our bookmobiles go to retirement home stops. So we really have something for everyone. It is super easy to get your free library card and you can, there's so many resources to use even from the comfort of your own home. We've got lots of things online that you can use your library card for. So come see what you've been missing.
Christa Funke:Stop by today. While you're here, sign up for Summer Adventure and join the fun.
Carly Ries:Because it is so much fun. Krista, thank you so much for coming on the show today. You're welcome. And listeners, thank you so much for tuning in. As always, please leave that five star review on Apple or Spotify.
Carly Ries:Share this episode with a friend who you want to participate in this summer adventure program with PPLD, and we'll see you next week on Springs and Things.