FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine — With free eclipse glasses and a cool grassy hillside, the Fort Fairfield Public Library was a good place to watch the solar eclipse Monday.
The August 21 Solar Eclipse, seen from Woodland, Maine during its 2:43 p.m. peak. (Staff photo/Christopher Bouchard)
“It looks like an eyeball looking down,” said 8-year-old Palo Nason, while looking through the solar filter eclipse glasses. Nason came to the gathering at the library with her mom and two younger sisters, along with dozens of other people.
By 2 p.m. the library handed out 150 eclipse glasses, as well as eclipse maps and kids activity booklets — all made possible through a recently-awarded National Aeronautics and Space Administration grant, said librarian Jennifer Gaenzle.
Youngsters from Easton, who are already back in school, came to the library earlier in the day, while kids, families and adults in Fort Fairfield came and went from the library during the afternoon.
The library is the only one in Maine to receive the NASA@My Library Program grant, a program providing funding for libraries to expand their science activities and content offerings. Along with the eclipse glasses and booklets, the grant has provided the library with a tablet computer preloaded with apps, games and visualizations of science, technology, engineering and math topics.
“It’s nice to have something this big that gets people into the library,” Gaenzle said. “It is neat, because it gets people aware that we’re more than just books.”
