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By NOAH WORTHAM | Staff Writer

ALABASTER – Families were able to enjoy a variety of activities during this year’s Piney Woods Festival at the Albert L. Scott Library in Alabaster.

The annual Piney Woods Festival was held at the Albert L. Scott Library on Saturday, Oct. 7 from 9-3 p.m.

“It went really well,” Library Director Kim Roberts said. “Everybody came out (and) we had a huge turnout. All of our vendors seemed to do well selling their goods and our food trucks did well.”

A variety of vendors were set up in the pine grove behind the library and attendees were also able to enjoy multiple food trucks.

Children were able to enjoy a variety of activities at the Piney Woods Festival, including bouncy houses, games and face painting as well as live entertainment from Mr. Larry Magic.

“The face painting was done by one of our vendors and (I) saw lots of excited faces out there,” Roberts said. “The bouncy houses were a huge hit—everybody enjoyed those. We also made owl ornaments out of pine cones that are going to go on our tree for the Festival of Trees at city hall.”

Adults were able to enjoy the live music during the event as well as a prize drawing for an Alabama Homecoming football ticket.

“She (the winner) was super excited,” Roberts said. “She said she’d never won anything before and she’d never gone to a game before and she was happy for both.”

During this year’s festival, the library’s new mascot, Bernie the great horned owl, made his debut appearance.

“That went really well,” Roberts said. “Everybody seemed really happy, got lots of hugs (and) lots of high-fives.”

The library also distributed 50 toy owls for the children in attendance to take home.

The idea for Bernie the great horned owl as the new mascot came from the library’s circulation team.

“They are the ones who came up with the idea—they did a whole research project on it,” Roberts said. “We picked the owl because libraries (and) owls kind of go together and they are one of the most common birds in Alabama too. We tried to pick something that was friendly and approachable, that was our big thing.”

On Sunday, children were also able to partake in Fill-a-Bag day in which they were able fill a bag with books for only $6.

“We had lots and lots of books and just about all of them were purchased,” Roberts said. “We got rid a lot of them, and I hope everybody enjoys what they bought.”

Those interested in learning more about the library’s programs may visit its Facebook page at Facebook.com/AlbertLScottlIbrary or by visiting its Eventbrite page.