West Hempstead Library to hold Letterboxing event

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As coronavirus restrictions continue to loosen throughout Nassau County, the West Hempstead Public Library hopes to enhance community engagement through numerous programs this summer, including a new event called Letterboxing, which involves puzzle solving, treasure hunting and posting clues around the neighborhood.

“Basically, we’re looking to get people back into the community to shop locally and to help the businesses out,” the library’s program coordinator, Roseanne Dorfman, said. “It’s sort of like a scavenger hunt, but we’re basing it on the letterbox phenomenon that’s going on right now.”

Library employees have visited businesses throughout the community over the past few months to spark interest in the event, which will be part of its month-long summer reading program in August. Sixteen businesses have agreed to take part in Letterboxing, most of them on Hempstead Avenue and Hempstead Turnpike. For patrons, registration starts on Thursday.

For Dorfman, the event falls in line with the library’s initiatives. “The library is all about the community,” she said. “It’s about staying in touch with the community and bringing people together, and that’s what we’re trying to do with this project.”

Dorfman added that while the library’s virtual programs have been successful over the past year, she wanted to launch one designed to get people outdoors and to encourage them to visit lesser-known businesses. “I’ve lived here in West Hempstead for 38 years, and I came across businesses that I’ve never seen before,” she said. “There might be other people in the community that don’t about these businesses, too.”

One of the newer businesses in the community, Gotham Barbershop, at 558 Hempstead Ave., hopes to attract some interest by way of the Letterboxing event. Melanie Caloger, Gotham’s creative director, said that she and her husband, barber Daniel Torres, are eager to make a mark for themselves in the community.

“We’re open to everything this community has to offer,” Caloger said. “I thought the Letterboxing would be a great way to bring customers in, and we’re geared towards kids with our Batman theme, so this worked out perfectly.”

Caloger and Torres, who opened their first barbershop in Flushing, Queens, in 2019, are planning a block party at their West Hempstead location on July 17 from 1 to 5 p.m. In addition to Letterboxing, Gotham plans to give away back-to-school supplies in the coming months.

“I feel like kids have been antisocial during the pandemic,” Caloger said. “My own kids are too shy to say hello to people anymore, so every little event right now would help.”

Dorfman, who is also president of the Nassau County Library Association’s Programming Division, cited the 2019 Nassau Library Tour challenge as inspiration for the Letterboxing event. The challenge involved a two-month scavenger hunt encompassing 52 of the 54 libraries in Nassau County.

“I wanted for us to reach a bigger scope and get the community involved,” Dorfman said. “Hopefully, this hands-on event will really get the community moving again.”

Some businesses were reluctant to take part in the event at first, Dorfman said, which she believed stems from the fear of too much foot traffic. “Things aren’t fully back to normal yet,” she said, “and so I could understand some of the hesitancy.”

The library plans to resume in-house programming in October. “We still want to be cautious,” Dorfman said, “especially with the Covid variants out there.”