PALM COAST, Fla. - A brand new feature of one of Palm Coast's most well-known parks was debuted on Wednesday. The walking trail at Linear Park now features StoryWalk, an interactive kids' reading path that takes them on a trip around the park grounds while they read a selected children's book.
The StoryWalk starts near the Linear Park trailhead, where the opening pages of the book Explorers of the Wild by Cale Atkinson were displayed on a podium at a child-friendly height. As kids follow the trail, they continue reading the book by reading a new page at each subsequent podium, eventually taking them right back to where they started.
The idea was a collaborative effort between Palm Coast's Parks and Recreation Department and the Flagler County Public Library, both of whom had representatives on-hand for the unveiling Wednesday. "They started it over at their branch and we thought it would be great to have it in one of the parks," said Parks and Rec Director James Hirst. "It was a big effort between both the county and the city."
About a dozen attendees, both parents and children, took the tour of the StoryWalk as a city staff member read the book aloud to the kids. Despite the frigid temperatures of the morning, kids engaged with the idea and raced each other to get to each new podium along the walk. "This was really entertaining for the kids," said mother Brittany Jeckovich. "My son likes to explore and go in the woods and find things, so it was cute that the story had to do with explorers."
One StoryWalk was created at the public library's main branch shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, Hirst said, before the idea was placed on hold. Linear Park now features the second edition of the idea, outside as a joint effort between the city and the county. "If it was a little bit warmer we would've gotten some more people," Hirst continued. "We're excited to see how many more will come and enjoy Linear Park and the StoryWalk."
The next new book to be added to the StoryWalk will The Tree Lady by H. Joseph Hopkins in March, followed by My Friend Earth by Patricia MacLachlan in April and The Red Bicycle by Jude Isabella in May.
