Wilton Library will celebrate making, creating and learning on Saturday, Oct. 22, during its second annual Innovation Day, from 10 to 2.
“Innovation Day is about the whole do-it-yourself mind-set — creativity, making things yourself and learning about things you may not have ever thought of before,” said Susan Lauricella, Wilton Library’s teen services and Makerspace coordinator.
“It’s a great way to just test things out without investing much of anything.”
This year’s Innovation Day will feature “a lot of presentations and workshops, which we really didn’t do last year,” said Lauricella.
Workshops and presentations will range from 3D design-making with the library’s Tinkercad machine to beekeeping, gardening, wine-making, terrarium-making, making maple syrup, and raising chickens.
“We’re also doing a lot more hands-on activities, because we found that was a thing people really liked last year,” said Lauricella.
“We have a button machine, so people can make buttons,” she said. “They can come make Halloween cards, learn how to knit, create etched votives, learn how to solder.”
There will also be life-size Jenga blocks, a table-size coloring page and virtual reality activities.
“There’s a community quilt that we’ll be doing, so people can come in and have one square of the quilt that we’ll put together,” said Lauricella, “and we’ll also be making a community tree out of recycled materials.”
Exhibitors will cover topics ranging from jewelry, guitar and video game making to portrait drawing, casting and fly-tying with Trout Unlimited, and animal adoption talks with Ridgefield Operation for Animal Rescue (ROAR).
There will also be stations in the lobby and Brubeck Room where people can get henna tattoos or check out robots, the library’s telescope and more.
Guests who work up an appetite during this jam-packed day can go outside and get food from the Crazy Taco-Mex and Jim’s Ice Cream trucks.
Last year’s Innovation Day drew around 400 people — ranging from young kids to senior citizens, said Lauricella, who hopes more people will “come, have fun and learn something new” this year.
“Maybe they’ll find a new passion or hobby or join a new club,” she said. “I’m just looking forward to lots of activity and fun, and I hope everyone takes advantage of things.”
This year’s Innovation Day is sponsored by Bruce Bennett Nissan, Catamount Wealth Management and Ring’s End.
Rooms will be available upstairs for library patrons looking for some peace and quiet.
Information: wiltonlibrary.org, 203-762-3950.