This ‘Little Library’ Delivers Books In Tripp

“We’ve seen them in Tabor and we found them very interesting,” said the Yankton native, who now lives in Tripp. “Here, they only have the school library for book access, so we’ve kind of wanted to do one here.”

A few decades ago, “little free libraries” or brightly colored cabinets mounted on posts along neighborhood streets, began popping up across the county. The weather-proof boxes, usually stocked with children’s books, typically bore a simple sign explaining the concept: “Take a Book — Leave a Book.”

Over the years, the trend has taken different forms, including custom made wooden cabinets painted to resemble an old schoolhouse or, for those less inclined to carpentry, a repurposed old cabinet or metal box.

In this case, Budihas envisioned using an old newspaper vending machine, which she hoped she could obtain from a local paper.

She contacted Chris Meeker, circulation manager for the Press & Dakotan, to see if there were any old P&D vending machines destined for the scrap yard.

“There are older models just sitting around that are unusable,” Meeker said. “She called in and when we found out what it was for, we did it instantly.”

Also, the P&D still had books left over from its last book drive, which Budihas was invited to browse through and take what she wanted.

“I’m happy that she got some use out of those books,” Meeker said. “There’s a bunch of the neat ones over there.”

“Chris came through all the way, 100%,” Budihas said.

Today, “little libraries” can be found all over the U.S., filled with anything its creators think people might need.

For example, boxes might contain books just for children, or for teens and adults as well. Some contain laundry soap, as well as personal-hygiene and toiletry items.

Recently, the Press & Dakotan reported on the new mental health resource boxes mounted on the north and south ends of Yankton’s Meridian Bridge. Made of repurposed railroad boxes, those are also a fresh take on the popular trend.

Once the newspaper vending machine was home, Budihas said, she and her daughters went crazy picking out paint and supplies for their project.

“The last three weeks, we spent a lot of hours painting it up,” she said. “Aimee picked out the hearts, and we got the sunflower — I love sunflowers — and we came up with the idea of the ‘Homegrown Library,’ which is written on the side.”

According to Aimee, the best thing about the project was the inclusion of sparkles and, though she decided to hold on to her current favorites books for now, donating and sharing her books with other children.

Though the girls said they didn’t think they told anyone about it, word of the project did get out, Budihas said.

“We have neighbor kids, and they go to school here as well, and they knew all about it,” she said. “They walked up, said, ‘Oh, are those for the book box?’ And they were asking about when that was going to be done.”

The family decided to put out the finished box that night, Budihas said.

Last week, the completed project, stocked with approximately 100 titles, was placed on Tripp’s Main Street, at Foundation Park across from the veterinarian clinic, Budihas said.

So far, the project is doing exactly what the family intended.

“We went and checked it today, and people have gone through it,” she said. “They’ve taken some books, and they’ve also put some back in there.”

The box contained books for children and for more advanced readers and adult readers, Budihas said.

“I think we could use some more of the children’s books,” she said. “I think it would be great to be able to have a lot more children’s books.”

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To donate books to the Homegrown Library, call Stephanie Budihas at 605-660-9471