The 12th annual Family Reading Night, a free community event for children and their parents, will be held Friday, March 2, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Washington Middle School.

This year’s event will feature a special musical presentation by a master fiddler, in tandem with readings from the February Missourian Book Buzz Pick, “Passing the Music Down.”

In addition, the event will feature craft tables hosted by local schools with activities tied to good books, and readings throughout the evening by high school and adult readers.

Some new high school readers this year will include the Washington High School wrestling team, soccer team and Spanish Club, which will read a story bilingually.

This year’s theme is “Reading. Pass It Down!”

A highlight of Family Reading Night in recent years has been the basket and family gift card drawings at the culmination of the event. Children who attend and listen to stories are eligible to win baskets filled with books donated by local organizations and businesses.

Families who read together the week prior to the event and document that reading on the Family Reading Log are eligible to win gift cards to purchase books for their home libraries.

The Family Reading Log will be published in the Feb. 18-19 weekend issue of The Missourian and is available to be downloaded HERE.

The Family Reading Night Committee is seeking donations of book baskets to help spread the love of reading to children who attend this free community event.

For more information on donating a book basket, contact Penny Heisel at penny.heisel@washington.k12.mo.us.

More than 100 community volunteers join together to host Family Reading Night.

This year’s event is sponsored by The Missourian, the Washington Kiwanis Club and the School District of Washington.

For more information, contact event chair Dawn Kitchell at kitchelld@emissourian.com or 636-932-4301.