Elizabeth Taber Library rings in the ‘noon’ year
Landon, 11 months, and Marcus, 8 months, are mesmerized by shiny streamers at the Elizabeth Taber Library on Wednesday, Dec. 31. Photos by Grace Roche 
Jackie Steger, left, and Faye, 2, color together.
Riaan Thakrar, 2, takes a break during the "Noon Year's Eve" celebration. 
Streamer wands cover one of the tables in the library. 
Macy Davis guides young visitors through making a streamer wand. 
Ailise Cornell, 8, puts the finishing touches on her noisemaker. 
Attendees count down the seconds to noon. 
Kids and their caregivers celebrate after the countdown. 
From left: Jackie Steger, center, poses with her children Will, 7, and Faye, 2.
Landon, 11 months, and Marcus, 8 months, are mesmerized by shiny streamers at the Elizabeth Taber Library on Wednesday, Dec. 31. Photos by Grace Roche
Jackie Steger, left, and Faye, 2, color together.
Riaan Thakrar, 2, takes a break during the "Noon Year's Eve" celebration.
Streamer wands cover one of the tables in the library.
Macy Davis guides young visitors through making a streamer wand.
Ailise Cornell, 8, puts the finishing touches on her noisemaker.
Attendees count down the seconds to noon.
Kids and their caregivers celebrate after the countdown.
From left: Jackie Steger, center, poses with her children Will, 7, and Faye, 2.
MARION — For many young children, midnight New Year’s Eve celebrations are way past their bedtime.
The Elizabeth Taber Library, at 8 Spring St., held a “Noon Year’s Eve” celebration for kids and their caregivers, counting down to 12 p.m. instead of 12 a.m.
Macy Davis, the children's librarian, organized the second annual iteration of the event. She said after the library’s renovation, there was much more room for activities and to welcome more attendees.
With kids on break from school and often stuck at home, Davis said the event was a good way for families to leave their houses and socialize with others.
“It's good to have something going on to help people get out of the house, and it's a lot of fun to celebrate the new year at noon,” she said. “For everybody who has a bedtime and can't stay up until midnight, it's great to make a celebration of it.”
Many of the visitors Davis saw at the event regularly attend other library programs, such as story times and after-school programs, but she said it was also a chance for people who don’t often visit to come to the library and see what it has to offer.
Activities were spread throughout the library’s first floor. Kids could make noisemakers and streamer wands, go on a scavenger hunt and dance on a Bubble Wrap-covered dance floor.
As noon drew near, participants gathered in front of a TV for the “Noon Year’s” countdown.
Davis said this was the highlight of the event, even if some attendees are too young to appreciate it.
“Some of the kids are young enough that they don't quite understand it, but then the parents and the caregivers really get into it,” Davis said. “It was great to see parents, and also a lot of grandparents, here today celebrating.”
Ailise Cornell, 8, said she came to the event with her dad because the two didn’t have other plans until the evening.
“We have nothing really to do today, and my cats just like to be left alone,” Ailise said.
She said she was planning to go to a friend’s New Year’s Eve party in the evening, and was hoping her dad would let her go to a neighbor’s house to countdown to midnight.
Aubrey Johnson, of New Bedford, often visits the library as serves as a midway meeting point between her home and her mother-in-law’s in Rochester.
She said she brought her children to the event so they could enjoy celebrating the new year without staying up late.
“We were looking for something fun to do for the kiddos, since they're not staying up late tonight,” Johnson said. ”I figured this is a good way to kind of trick them into thinking that we're hitting midnight.”
