They lift your spirits, prompt you to think, make you feel grateful, and inspire you to do more. They connect you to our community – in a positive way -- shining a spotlight on what is good about Milwaukee. These are "Uniquely Milwaukee" stories from Radio Milwaukee.
Last summer Radio Milwaukee caught up with Barbara Cerda, who goes by “Barby the Book Fairy,” for a Community Story. We tagged along on a trip to a Little Free Library on 13th and Mitchell Street in Milwaukee she had been stocking up regularly with books.
At that time, she had collected more than 1,000 books for the community to share, spread across five little libraries she had been filling.
But she didn’t stop at a thousand books, and she certainly didn’t stop at just five libraries.
Now, almost one year later, we met back up with Barby during an event at Kosciuszko Park where she hosted what she called the largest Little Free Library event in Milwaukee. For two solid hours, she and a team of volunteers handed out countless books, both in English and Spanish, to neighbors on the South Side.
And now, thanks to another grant she has received, she’ll be adding ten more libraries to her lineup, in addition to the 17 she is stocking now:
- 1st and Mineral
- 6th and Grant
- 6th and Chase
- 7th and Lapham
- 7th and Grant
- 7th and Lincoln
- 10th and Oklahoma
- 13th and Forest Home
- 13th and Cleveland (Community Garden)
- 13th and Montana
- 15th and Howard
- 16th and Bow
- 16th and Cleveland (Pulaski pool)
- 24th and Rogers
- 27th and Greenfield
- 32nd and Orchard
- 58th and Scott
Listen to our interview with Milwaukee’s only “Book Fairy” below, and find her on Facebook for the latest on the additional libraries planned for the South Side.
