Movie-goers wait in line for popcorn at the library card celebration at the Kent Theatre.

Mike Metzger, who started the first library card roundup in 1997, was on hand to help celebrate this year’s event at the Kent Theatre. Here he poses with two Cedar Trails students.

It was  19 years ago—in 1997—that Mike Metzger had the idea to get first graders in the Cedar Springs Public School district to sign up for a library card. And every year since, the Cedar Springs Public Library has partnered with Kent District Library to reach out and get the job done.

This year the Cedar Springs Library partnered with both the Nelson/Sand Lake Library and the Spencer Township Library in sending home about 300 letters to the area first graders and in paying a share of the cost to get them in free to a movie at the Kent Theatre as part of the celebration.

Each year the Kent Theatre holds a special movie night on a Monday and Tuesday for the first graders and their families as part of the celebration, and they provide free popcorn to first graders. This year they showed “Norm of the North.” About 268 attended.