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What we’re about
The City of Menlo Park's libraries offer a variety of programs, including art events, author talks, info sessions, craft sessions, music events, and more. To make the most of our programming efforts and this meetup page, we’d love for you to get involved. If you come to a program, say hi and let us know you saw it on meetup. If you have an idea for something you’d like to see at the library, send us a message. The library is a great space for community meetups and we’d love to play a role in making those connections!
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Fratello Marionettes: Carnival of the AnimalsBelle Haven Library, Belle Haven Community Campus, Menlo Park, CA
The 7th Annual Menlo Park Summer Puppetry Festival is here! In our kickoff production, beautiful marionettes enact fairy tale favorites, to a classical musical score.
Saint-Saens’ fanciful music serves as a canvas upon which three classic storybook fairy tales are interwoven: “The Three Little Pigs,” “The Tortoise and the Hare,” and “The Ugly Duckling.”
The production is performed without dialog, allowing the classical score to shine. The puppets and puppeteers perform on a raised stage, fully visible to the audience.
About Fratello Marionettes:
The Fratello Marionettes have been entertaining audiences through the art of marionettes since 1989, and has performed in locations around the world.
Founder Kevin Menegus became intrigued by puppetry after receiving a puppet as a gift at age six, and eventually went on to apprentice with some of the leading puppeteers in the country, including Tony Urbano, Bob Baker, Randal Metz and Lewis Mahlmann.
The company continues the tradition of classic marionette performances. All the puppets you see in The Fratello Marionettes’ repertoire are conceptualized and built by the puppeteers themselves, with painstaking attention to detail. Each marionette takes two to three months to create.
This free event received partial funding support from the Friends of the Menlo Park Library.
Sunday, June 16, 2024 | 11:00 AM - 11:45 AM
Belle Haven Library, Belle Haven Community Campus, 100 Terminal Ave., Menlo Park, CA, 94025More free events with Menlo Park Library:
https://menlopark.gov/programsMenlo Park Library on social media:
@menloparklibrary on Instagram & Facebook
@menlolibrary on Twitter - English Conversation ClubMenlo Park Library, Menlo Park, CA
Do you want to improve your English? Practice with us!
Virtual Conversation Club is an opportunity for English language learners to develop their fluency by practicing with others under the guidance of skilled volunteer tutors. From hobbies to holidays, we discuss a variety of topics to encourage cultural exchange.
Learn about:
• World cultures and traditions
• U.S. history
• English vocabulary and phrasesTakes place Tuesdays from Noon-1 at Menlo Park Library, 800 Alma Street.
More free events with Menlo Park Library:
https://menlopark.gov/programsMenlo Park Library on social media:
@menloparklibrary on Instagram & Facebook
@menlolibrary on Twitter - LGBTQ+ San Mateo County: History's MysteriesMenlo Park Library, Menlo Park, CA
Learn about the ongoing questions about LGBTQ+ history of San Mateo County.
Reprising his history presentation full of stories and images from newspapers and advertisements of the day, presenter Michael Flanagan will address the questions about the county that continue to puzzle him.
Topics and questions will include:
- 1911: Dr. Alan Hart attends Stanford; he underwent one of the first female-to-male gender transitions in the United States in 1917
- 1936: Arrest of Henry Cowell in Menlo Park, on morals charges
- 1960s: Why did folk music spots draw a gay crowd in the 60s?
- 1970s: Whatever happened to the Imperial Court culture of the Peninsula and South Bay?
- 1980s: How accurate are the historical statistics on AIDS in the local community?
- 2000s: Why did gay & lesbian bars disappear from San Mateo County?
- 2012: San Mateo County Pride Celebration established
- 2017: The County’s first Pride Center opens
About the presenter:
Michael Flanagan is a Menlo Park Library reference librarian and history columnist for the Bay Area Reporter.
Tuesday, June 18, 2024 | 06:30 PM - 07:30 PM
Menlo Park Library, 800 Alma St., Menlo Park, CA, 94025More free events with Menlo Park Library:
https://menlopark.gov/programsMenlo Park Library on social media:
@menloparklibrary on Instagram & Facebook
@menlolibrary on Twitter - Mystery Readers: Golden State MurdersLink visible for attendees
This month, the theme for the Mystery Readers Group is whodunits set right here in California! Read any California-set mysteries you like, and recommend your favorites to the group—other participants may even give you some great titles to add to your to-read pile.
There seems to be no end to mysteries set in the Golden State, with tales cozy or pulse-pounding, covering the various regions, and various points in our history. Here’s just a handful of possibilities:
A Dangerous Business, by Jane Smiley: Monterey, 1851: a pair of brothel workers turn to sleuthing, following a trail of missing girls. Kirkus Reviews calls the book “an oddly pleasant little trot through Gold Rush–era California,” while Publishers Weekly notes that the “vivid historical details and vibrant characters bring Smiley's setting to glorious life. This seductive entertainment is not to be missed.”
City of Dragons, by Kelli Stanley: Author Kelli Stanley’s Miranda Corbie series is about “a San Francisco and a California and a 1940 America that the textbooks and movies don’t show you. A different kind of noir…” In this first book of the series, the 33-year-old P.I. stumbles upon a body at a Chinese New Year carnival.
Death Rides the Zephyr, by Janet Dawson: The original California Zephyr train operated between 1949 and 1970, on a route from Oakland to Chicago. Dawson’s California Zephyr Mystery series takes us back to that time, complete with the Zepherettes, the rail hostesses who performed duties for passengers including first aid, babysitting, and tours. In Death Rides the Zephyr, it’s 1954, and the train is stopped by an avalanche in a Colorado canyon. Zephyrette Jill McLeod must learn whether her resourcefulness is enough to stop a killer. Roberta Alexander of the Oakland Tribune wrote, “this historical mystery is really a love song to a bygone way of life… (the train) is lovingly described, from its layout to its ingenious bedrooms to its cuisine. That's worth the price of admission."
Death by Bubble Tea, by Jennifer J. Chow: Nominated for Agatha, Anthony, and Lefty Awards, Death by Bubble Tea is the latest in Chow’s L.A. Night Market Mystery series. Local girl Yale Yee prefers a technology-free life, while her newly-arrived Hong Kong cousin, Celine, is a “foodstagrammer.” Before you know it, they are serving boba drinks in light bulbs—and their first customer dies. Hurry and check this out before we do.
A High Tide Murder, by Emily George: Chloe Barnes is a thoroughly modern sleuth in the fictional California community of Azalea Bay: she is the owner of a cannabis café, legally selling sweet treats and frothy beverages with a dash of CBD. In this second entry in the Cannabis Café Mystery Series, Chloe looks into the mysterious death of a pro surfer. Library Journal says, ““this fun and fact-filled thematic entry into the cozy mystery genre has it all…”
What California-set mysteries have you read? Do you have any favorites? Join us, and clue us in!
Menlo Park’s Mystery Readers Group meets online on the third Wednesday of each month. Rather than reading the same book, all share our reading of different books surrounding a particular theme (tales set in California, for example).
Wednesday, June 19, 2024 | 03:00 PM - 04:15 PM
Zoom webinarMore free events with Menlo Park Library:
https://menlopark.gov/programsMenlo Park Library on social media:
@menloparklibrary on Instagram & Facebook
@menlolibrary on Twitter