Big day planned July 31 at Everly Public Library

The Everly Public Library Tales of Tails summer reading program will hold its finale on Saturday, July 31. The scheduled events will coincide with the 100th celebration of the Everly Fire Department.

Local reading enthusiasts should take note to come early Saturday morning. Three local authors will be featured at the library from 10 a.m.-noon: Karen Schwaller, Dave Hoye and Arla Kintigh.

Schwaller is a freelance writer, author, speaker, farm wife/mother and owner of "Schwaller Agri-Stories" from Milford. She has a degree in journalism and has written for newspapers in northwest and central Iowa on a full time and freelance basis for the last 39 years. She has been a freelance farm reporter and ag humor/inspirational columnist for the last 25 of those years.

Schwaller has written two non-fiction books, The Dirt and I Married a City Boy, collections of some of her favorite farm humor and inspirational columns she's written over the years. She also has a children's book called What Should I Be?, a tribute to all that mothers do. More books are in the works. Karen and her husband farm in Dickinson County. They have three grown children, who are all involved in agriculture.

Hoye lives in Everly with his wife, Cheri. They have two children and six grandchildren. Hoye's Midwest values and outlook come from years of living in small town Iowa. His work as a therapist in schools and a lay minister have influenced his writing and his view on the world. Dave has published several books of poetry and a non-fiction book about kids. His most recent book, Special Days of Summer, was released in December of 2020.

Arla Kintigh and her husband live in Spencer. She has published two books about the Clay County Fair. The first, Fairgoers Don't Live on Fried Food Alone, was written to help preserve memories and coincided with the fair board's 100th anniversary. Her children's book, Clayton Goes To the Fair, illustrated by Spencer Public Library director Mandy Muelheusen, is about a pig who strays from Grandpa's Barn. Kintigh's latest book is The Tangney Hotel: An Upscale Hotel for an Upscale Town, which covers the building's initial construction, years of decline and revival as a social outreach locale. All proceeds for the book go toward renovation of the building for additional programs to benefit northwest Iowa.

From 12-3 p.m., the library will be sponsoring a giant inflatable water slide in front of the building. Throughout the day, the Friends of the Library group will be selling refreshments with proceeds being used to help the library. The group will also be coordinating a book sale of used books – $1 for a paperback and $2 for a hardcover.