Proudly serving Wendell, MA

July Events

Sign up for Summer Reading at the Library! All ages and prizes!  

Events in Brief

The Library will be closed on Friday, July 4th in observance of the federal holiday.

Yoga Update: There will be no class on the following dates: Sunday 6/22, Wed. 7/2, Sunday 7/6, Wed. 7/9

All month: Art in the Herrick Room. Paper and Photo Collages by Susan Dorais.

Every Friday: LEGO and Games. 4 p.m.

Every Sunday: Yoga. 10 a.m.

Mondays, July 14 and 28: Fiber Group / Mending Circle. 6:30 p.m.

Every Tuesday: Adult Art Group. 5 p.m.

Tuesdays 7/1, 7/15, 7/29: Franklin County Fair Crafting Club. 3-5 p.m. Registration Required.

Tuesdays 7/8 and 7/22: STEM Craft: Make Your Own Bouncy ball, 4-5 p.m. Ages 5 and up, Registration Required.

Every Wednesday: Movie. 4 p.m.; Yoga. 6:20 p.m.

Tuesday July 8: CNC Playground Meetup at the Library. Weather permitting.

Wednesday July 2, 9, 16, 23, & 30: Storytime. 10 a.m.

Wednesday July 9: Stone Circle Free Concert: Ants on a Log and the Grumpytime Club Band. 6:30 p.m.

Friday, July 11: Office Hour with Rep. Aaron Saunders. 1 p.m.

Saturday, July 12: Art Opening, Susan Dorais. 1-3 p.m.

Friday July 18: Wendell Moth Ball/ Friday Night at the Library.   Wicked Good Henna 7:30-9:30, Bat presentation from Rocky at Problem Wildlife Solutions at 7 p.m., Moth observation with Adam Kohl at dark. Moth/ Fancy Dress encouraged. 6-10 p.m.

Tuesday, July 22: Adult Book Group. Elif Shafak, There are Rivers in the Sky. 10 a.m.

Saturday, July 24: Percival Porcupine Staring in Oak Seed on the Big Screen and acorn critter craft, read by author Sylvia Wetherby. 1 p.m.

Sunday, July 28: Cook Book Book Club- up your food-to-go game with a trio of picnic cookbooks available on the book group shelf.

Thursday July 31: Stone Circle  Free Concert: The Hilltown Ham Hocks.  6:30 p.m.

August Dates to put on the Calendar!

Saturday August 2 @ 10:30 a.m.: Mushroom Walk with Jonathan Kranz. Learn basics of mushroom habits, identification, and ecology, and help prepare participants for safe exciting forages on their own. All ages, Registration Required.

Tuesday 8/ 19 @ 6:30 pm: : The Faux Paws. From raging fiddle tunes, to saxophone solos and unrequited love songs, the music of the Faux Paws would be hard to pin down with standard genre descriptions. The trio’s contagious groove, and feel-good melting pot folk music has been honed over ten years of playing together, and is the sounds of three close friends (two of which happen to be brothers), who feel a musical kinship that transcents any stylistic limitations. The Faux Paws are regulars at Rhode Island’s Rhythm and Roots Festival and other folk festivals across the country.

Stone Circle Free Concerts, Ants on a Log and The Grumpytime Club Band.

Wednesday July 9, 6:30 p.m.

Laid-back, family-friendly outdoor concerts at the Stone Circle behind the library.

Bring your picnic, blanket, or chair and soak in the evening vibes!

The Friends of the Wendell Free Library will be selling Ice Cream by the scoop 🙂  come out and support this terrific group that the Library could not continue functioning without.

☔️ In case of rain, we’ll keep the groove going indoors at the Wendell Meetinghouse.

The Grumpytime Club Band is a red and gold family music party band including kid musicians and costumed dancers. Playing original music from Carrie Ferguson’s award-winning album, “The Grumpytime Club” plus a handful of surprising covers, they rock fairs, festivals, and libraries with their high-energy funky folk-pop. Featuring a shifting palette of horns, violin, guitar, mandolin, keys, bass and drums, their music is highly danceable and truly fun for all ages, highlighting themes of inclusivity, social justice, Earth stewardship and LGBTQIA+ youth/family pride.

Ants on a Log plays music for children and other childlike people. Their award-winning music centers positivity, social justice, and silliness. Full of humor and harmony, Ants concerts are energetic, interactive, and a delight for children and adults.

Big thanks to the Friends of the Wendell Free Library for making these concerts possible.

Franklin County Fair Crafting Club

Tuesdays 2-5 p.m. on  7/1, 7/15, 7/29 and 8

Community Crafting for the Franklin County Fair –

All Ages

Tuesday 3-5 p.m.

led by Jenny Coy

Pick up a copy of the exhibitors handbook at the library

Please call, email, or stop by the desk to Register.

7/1 – A  Celebration of Pop- Ups– Make a pop up greeting card

7/15 – Yarn Craft- Bring a crochet or knitting project to work on in the crafty community. Don’t know how to crochet or knit? No worries, we’ll teach you how to finger knit!

7/29- Flower Arrangements In Containers Not Originally Intended For Flowers -Using containers from WRATS (or bring your own), practice flower arranging. Fresh flowers will be provided (or bring your own). Take home your arrangement to enjoy and recreate a new one to drop off at the fair on 9/2-9/3

8/12 – Mock County Fair Wendell Style– Bring in anything that you are thinking of entering into the exhibitors hall at the Franklin County Fair; Crafts, Arts, Baked Goods, Canned Goods, Maple products etc. Home grown Eggs, Vegetables, Flowers etc. Unfinished and in progress projects are welcome! We will set up a display, admire each other’s handiwork, root each other on and taste test each other’s recipes.

July Summer Reading Storytime

Every Wednesday 10- 11 am

We will continue to explore picture books and related activities from the illustrators of this year’s iRead program: Ruth Chan,  Oge Mora, and Vanessa Brantley Newton.

CNC Playground Meet-Up at the Wendell Free Library

Tuesday July 8, 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Classic CNC playgroup but on the playground.  Weather dependent.  Use QR registration code if you would like to be notified of a cancellation.

Community Conversation on Improving Library Accessibility

Tuesday July 22, 7-8 p.m.

Please register.

A more accessible library?  Come talk to us about it!

The Wendell Free Library wants to hear from you how we can increase the accessibility of our facilities, services, and programs. Through a second round of grant funding from the ALA, we have received $10,000 to improve the library experience of our community members with limited mobility, vision, and hearing and other disabilities. Please join us for a discussion on the best use of these grant funds.

Tues. June 17 at 7 p.m. at the Wendell Free Library and on zoom.

REGISTER for one session  by email wendell@cwmars.org, Phone 978-544-3559. Please let us know any accommodations needed to help you participate in this conversation.

The first round of funding was used to finance the new automatic push button doors at the library entrance, ADA updates to the bathrooms,  new scent free soap dispensers and add to our accessible format audiobook collection (playaways).

This event is offered as part of Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities, an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA)in collaboration with the Association for Rural & Small Libraries(ARSL).

Wendell Moth Ball

Friday July 18 6-10 p.m.

You are cordially invited to a Moth Ball at the Wendell Free Library on

Friday July 18, 2025- A gathering of observation and celebration of our most beloved nocturnal lepidoptera friends. Fancy/moth inspired dress encouraged. Guests of honor are expected around 9p.m.

7:30-9:30pm: Wicked Good Henna!

(Sign up for a time slot at the front desk)

5-7pm: Friday Night at the Library with moth crafts/ activities

7pm: Bat presentation by expert Rocky from Problem Wildlife Inc.

9pm: Moth time! Observe moth visitors with local moth expert Adam Kohl

Percival Porcupine Staring in Oak Seed on the Big Screen & read by author Sylvia Wetherby.

Saturday July 28, 1 p.m.

See the stunning artwork, and listen along to the story Percival Porcupine in Oak Seed on the big screen in the Herrick Room and make some acorn critters to take home.

Stone Circle Free Concert: The Hilltown Ham Hocks

Thursday July 31, 6:30 pm.

Laid-back, family-friendly outdoor concerts at the Stone Circle behind the library.

Bring your picnic, blanket, or chair and soak in the evening vibes!

The Friends of the Wendell Free Library will be selling pizza by the slice 🙂  come out and support this terrific group that the Library could not continue functioning without.

☔️ In case of rain, we’ll keep the groove going indoors at the Wendell Meetinghouse.

The Hilltown Ham Hocks are a modern folk trio with old time roots with a repertoire of carefully-crafter originals and distinctive covers, the Hilltown Ham Hocks weave a rich tapestry of American folk, bluegrass, and old-time sounds.

Big thanks to the Friends of the Wendell Free Library for making these concerts possible.

Wednesdays at 4 p.m. Matinee Movies.

Enjoy a variety of movies all month long in the Herrick Room. Come early for Popcorn.

Wednesday movies will be on break in August.

JULY 2: GOSFORD PARK (2001; Robert Altman, director; with Maggie Smith, Alan Bates, Derek Jacobi, Helen Mirren, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Jeremy Northam, Stephen Fry)

An elegant later and ambitious effort by Robert Altman featuring interlocking plotlines and a large ensemble cast in the tradition of his Short Cuts and Nashville. Gosford Park is set in the 1930s England and is part study of the British class system, part manor house mystery….and more. Nominated for seven academy awards, winner for best screenplay.

JULY 9: ATLANTIC CITY (1980; Louis Malle, director; with Susan Sarandon, Burt Lancaster)

Nominated for the Big Five Academy Awards—Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay—Atlantic City is an understated gem about a low-level gangster and an aspiring blackjack dealer whose lives become intertwined after a drug deal goes wrong.

JULY 16: THE DESK SET (1957; Walter Lang, director; with Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy)

In this charming romantic comedy, Spencer Tracy is Richard Sumner, an efficiency expert charged with introducing automation to a broadcasting network. When he brings in his cutting-edge computer to the Reference Librarians in the research department, he and his computer meet their match in department

head Bunny Watson, played by Katharine Hepburn.

JULY 23: THE HEIRESS (1949; William Wyler, director; with Montgomery Clift, Olivia De Haviland, Ralph Richardson)

A gripping adaptation of William James’s novel Washington Square starring Olivia de Havilland as Catherine Sloper, a naive young woman who falls in love with a handsome young man despite the objections of her emotionally abusive father who suspects him of being a manipulative gold digger.

JULY 30: THE CANDIDATE (1972; Michael Ritchie, director; with Robert Redford, Peter Boyle Melvyn Douglas)

This political satire casts a sharp eye on machinations involved in political campaigns. Redford is Bill McKay, a candidate for the U.S. Senate in what is believed to an unwinnable race. With nothing to lose, he begins to tweak the establishment–at a dear cost. The screenplay is by a speechwriter for Senator Eugene J. McCarthy during his 1968 campaign.

The Gentle Healthy Bones and Balance Exercise Program

Wednesdays 10:00-11:00 am and Fridays 10:00-11:00 am

Presented by the Wendell Free Library via ZOOM.

For seniors who wish to improve or maintain strength, mobility, flexibility,

balance and bone health.

To join, please contact:

Marianne Vinal

Email: mariannevinal@gmail.com

Telephone: 978-544-6122 call or text

or

The Wendell Free Library

Email: Wendell@cwmars.org

The monetary support of the Friends of the Wendell Free Library makes so much possible!!