September is Library Card Sign-up Month. As Bossier Parish Community Engagement Librarian Andrea Gilmer wrote in her column last week (9/4/24) the campaign began as a challenge laid down by then-Secretary of Education William H. Bennet to members of the American Library Association in 1987. The challenge, that the librarians chose to accept, was to see that every child obtains a library card, and every child uses it. Just two years later, the librarians of Caddo and Bossier Parishes had come up with a nearly foolproof plan to reach that goal right here in northwest Louisiana. That was because their plan was put into action at a beloved (especially by kids) local institution, Hamel’s Amusement Park.
Hamel’s Amusement Park began by Charles M. “Milton” Hamel Sr. as a dairy farm in the 1930’s. By 1960, after adding a variety of animals at his own expense for the enjoyment of local children, his dairy farm included a nice-sized zoo, encircled with a mile-long train so visitors could see the free-roaming animals. With rides and attractions added by the Hamel family, especially Milton’s son who became operations manager following his father’s death in July, 1969, Hamel’s became an amusement park complete with roller coaster, Ferris wheel, and other major rides, thus becoming the main family entertainment attraction in the Shreveport-Bossier area until its closure in 1999.
Hamel’s, local librarians knew, was the perfect place to get kids and families excited about summer, and therefore, the perfect place to get them excited about summer reading. It was also the perfect place to make receiving their own library cards a special and memorable event. They began forming many partnerships to make a multi-parish library card sign-up campaign and summer reading program kick-off happen there, beginning in 1989.
First, in partnership with KTBS TV station, all second graders in Caddo and Bossier schools were issued library cards and bused to Hamel’s for a special event to receive them, watch performances and story times on stage, and have some time on the rides. Second graders were chosen as the benchmark year for children to receive their library cards because, explained Sally Tanner, supervisor of libraries for Bossier Parish Schools in the May, 1992, Bossier Perspectives school board newsletter, this is the age at which children begin to read independently and to read for pleasure.
After several days of getting all second graders to the park, the finale of the library card campaign at Hamel’s was a time was set aside for the public of all ages to visit Hamel’s and get in free with a library card. For visitors who didn’t yet have a library card, librarians were standing by at the park gate to issue one on the spot. Or, one could pay a dollar to enter and the proceeds would go to literacy organizations, which were also represented at the event.
Additional partners for the library days at Hamel’s included ARKLA gas, AT&T Pioneers and of course, Hamel’s Park. It was no surprise Hamel’s was willing to cede their park for some early-season educational fun. Milton Hamel, the father, had been known for his involvement in community organizations and charities focused on children, including the Caddo Foundation for Exceptional Children, the Salvation Army Boys Club Advisory Board, and Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, among many others. His son Milton followed suit, and had also served Louisiana’s Fourth Congressional District as the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) representative for two terms in the 1980s.
The library card signup program at Hamel’s was so successful that after only its second year, and the participation of about 14,000 schoolchildren and a doubling of library summer reading program registrations, the campaign won a community service award from the Louisiana Reading Association.
Sadly, Hamel’s closed at the end of the 1990’s, its demise partially brought on by costly damage from a tornado, and the desire of Milton Hamel to move on to other economic development projects. The site is now home to Riverpark Church, which retained some structures of the park and still hosts some community events on the property, such as Paws in the Park in October to raise money for local animal rescues. And if you were a fan of the park’s Pinfari metal roller coaster, and you’re willing to travel to Lakeside Amusement Park in Denver, Colorado, you can still take a ride on it. It was just moved, reassembled and re-opened in the Denver area in 2023!
You can, of course, still visit the Bossier Parish Libraries anytime to sign up you or your child for a library card. If you do that this month, you can take a picture with an oversize version of our library cards located at each Bossier Parish Libraries branch. Be sure to share it on social media and tag us so we can like your post! Come visit the Bossier Central Complex, which now includes the History Center, at 850 City Hall Drive, Bossier City, LA (across Beckett Street from the original History Center and “old” Central Library). We are open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org
For other fun facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok, and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/.
Images:
- “Judy Covington, Resource Director at Stockwell Place, and Libraries Supervisor Sally Tanner take to the merry-go-round” – photo from the May 1992 Bossier Perspectives newsletter for Bossier Parish School Board employees. Howard Jones collection, BPL History Center
- Performer and children on stage at Hamel's Amusement Park for Second Grader's Day when 1600 children received library cards, summer 1993, BPL History Center collection
- Creshaun Harris and Sharen Smith, Bossier Central Complex employees with a Bossier Parish Libraries “library card”
