We will kick off Summer Reading 2026 on Friday, June 26, from 3–5 p.m. with a party! This event is full of free family fun, including a bounce house, free books, and ice cream from Zellie’s. Registration for the Summer Reading program begins on June 22, and can also be done during the Kickoff Party.
Summer Reading is the Library’s longest and most popular annual program, featuring events, performances, activities, and games throughout the summer. Last year, more than 500 community members participated.
“This year’s Summer Reading theme, Plant a Seed, Read, couldn’t be more perfect for the active and engaged library-goers we have in our community,” said Mary Randall. “We hope to cultivate and grow our patrons’ love for literature, libraries, and all they do for their communities. We can’t wait to play!”
The Library has scheduled events and performances for all ages throughout the summer, including a puzzle race, Repair Café, Dungeons & Dragons, cooking classes, and visits from Sparks Ark, Portland Stage, Rewild Maine, and more. Regular Library programs — including storytimes, book groups, foreign language conversations, and the Knitting Circle — will continue throughout the summer.
Readers of all ages can earn prizes through Summer Reading Bingo by attending Library programs, reading books, and completing activities. Participants can also earn prize tickets every time they read.
“We have some really great prizes this year,” says Program and Outreach Manager Hannah Lackoff, “Players who complete reading tickets can enter to win gift cards to local businesses (including Skillin’s Greenhouses, Renys, and Now You’re Cooking), as well as Hearts of Pine Tickets, a chia pet, LEGO flower, art supplies, skincare sets, puzzles, games, and more. In addition, everyone who completes blackout on their bingo sheet will be automatically entered into a drawing for a gift card to Springer’s Jewelers, Bull Moose, or Island Treasure Toys!”
Summer Reading runs June 22 through August 15 and is open to anyone of any age who lives in the Patten Free Library service area, (Arrowsic, Bath, Georgetown, West Bath, and Woolwich), has a Patten Free Library card, or attends an RSU1 school or a school located within the service area.
For more information, including a complete schedule of events and details on how to sign up, visit our website.
Learn more and RegisterWe encourage all Woolwich residents who support the library to attend an important meeting on June 24 at 6pm at the Woolwich Central School and vote to continue to fund the library.
Ensure that all Woolwich kids, teen, adults, and seniors keep access to our variety of programs for the betterment of our community.
Have questions? Read our Woolwich Library Funding Vote FAQ.
Our Summer Hours start May 23 and run until Labor Day.
Monday: 10-5
Tuesday: 10-7
Wednesday: 10-7
Thursday: 10-5
Friday: 10-5
Saturday: 10-1
We encourage all library supporters to attend your town meetings, as your support is instrumental to ensure continued funding for our organization. Our library community is a better place with you here!
West Bath: May 4 at 6pm
West Bath School
Bath Budget Public Hearing: May 20 at 6pm
Bath City Hall
Arrowsic: June 11 at 6:30pm
Arrowsic Fire Hall
Georgetown: June 13 at 9am
Georgetown Central School
Woolwich: June 24 at 6pm **Special Town Meeting — New Date!
Woolwich Central School
The newest issue of Pharos, A Patten Free Library Literary Magazine is now available! This online publication features the winning pieces from this year’s Annual Writing Contest. Access it through the link below and join us in once again congratulating this year’s winners.
The 11th Annual Writing Contest was open to writers of Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Poetry in grades 6-12 and adults. Our judges had an especially difficult time choosing from all the excellent submissions, and would like to congratulate everyone who entered, as would the staff of the Patten Free Library!
It is no small thing to be brave enough to share your words with the world, and you are all winners in our book (and we know books!). Congratulations to everyone who entered!
Read PharosTickets for our Gift Card Raffle are now on sale! We’re raffling off gift cards from a variety of local businesses all throughout June. Support the Library and treat yourself to something fun.
Tickets are on sale through the end of May, and can be purchased at the front desk or at the link below.
Ticket pricing:
• $10 each
• 5 for $40
• 15 for $100
Don’t miss your chance to win—and support the Library at the same time.
Buy Raffle Tickets
The Seed Library is now open!
The majority of seeds for the 2026 Seed Library were donated by Fedco Seeds and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Additional seeds have been provided by patrons like you! We are starting the year with beans, beets, broccoli, corn, greens, herbs, peas, root vegetables, squash, and an assortment of flowers. Availability may vary.
Community donated seeds shared by the Seed Library were grown with love and care like our ancestors have done for thousands of years. Please know they may not meet state germination or labeling standards.
We try our best to ensure the quality of our seed using best practices in inventory care and labeling. Nonetheless, seeds are alive and people using the seed library have varying degrees of skill in saving seeds. You should know that you might experience low germination rates or receive seeds that were not properly labeled. This is a volunteer-run project, and we do the best we can with the time and resources we have.
How does the Seed Library work?
We are thrilled to announce the winners of the Patten Free Library’s 2026 Annual Writing Contest! We can’t wait to share the winning pieces with the public in our literary magazine, Pharos, which will be published in April.
The 11th Annual Writing Contest was open to writers of Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Poetry in grades 6-12 and adults. Our judges had an especially difficult time choosing from all the excellent submissions, and would like to congratulate everyone who entered, as would the staff of the Patten Free Library!
It is no small thing to be brave enough to share your words with the world, and you are all winners in our book (and we know books!). Congratulations to everyone who entered!
On April 1, The Patten Free Library will offer free passes to the Bath Skate Park to library card holders. This program reflects a commitment to accessibility and community from both organizations.
We add this opportunity to our growing Museum and Parks Pass collection; an assortment of free or heavily discounted passes to museums and other local attractions, including the Coastal Maine Botanic Gardens, the Chocolate Church, and Maine State Parks.
“By offering experiences that our patrons might not otherwise be able access or afford, we are expanding the possibilities of what libraries can do for their communities,” says Patten Free Library Program and Outreach Manager Hannah Lackoff, “The Bath Skatepark is the perfect addition to this program, and we can’t wait for our patrons of all ages to see what the park has to offer!”
The Bath Skatepark is the largest indoor skatepark in Maine, offering over 6,000 square feet for skateboarding, inline skates, scooters, and BMX. The park is operated, in part, by local youth and riders and supports programs in the adjoining Midcoast Youth Center Teen Space.
“We really are thrilled to be part of the library’s collection of all the cool things that families can access at no cost,” says Midcoast Youth Center Director of Development Kirstie Truluck, “The research tells us that there are physical, social, cognitive and emotional benefits to skateboarding, and MYC is honored to build on the work of community youth who advocated for a skatepark nearly 20 years ago.”
Three Bath Skatepark passes are available per month, and can be used by up to four people ages five and up, including adults. Passes include equipment rentals. Access to passes is available to all Patten Free Library cardholders beginning April 1.
April 1-30 in Library Park
Now in its sixth year, the Patten Free Library’s Poetry Walk will take place in the month of April in Library Park. What began as a social distancing program in 2021 has become an annual tradition looked forward to by the community and staff alike.
Each year we install about twenty poems on yard sign style signs. We do our best to include poets of all ages, genders, and races, and select poems with a spring or hopeful theme. We invite the public to read the poems as they walk their dogs, play with their kids, and breathe in the spring air after a long winter.
The poetry walk will be on display throughout the month of April. Additional poets include local favorites, poetry from the History Room, and some bigger names viewers are certain to recognize.
