Martinsburg resident Judith Reggiardo holds her one-year-old granddaughter, Maisie, at the Grandparents’ Day Celebration in the Shepherdstown Public Library on Saturday. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — A circle of grandparents and their grandchildren sat by the windows in the Shepherdstown Public Library (SPL) Children’s Department, as they listened to a Grandparents’ Day-themed story time led by Children’s Library Assistant Jessie Ward on Saturday morning.

The story time was one of the activities held as part of the third annual Grandparents’ Day Celebration, which is coordinated by the library and the Pack Horse Ford Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).

“The library’s been a tremendous help — they really have,” said chapter chaplain Kathy Sholl. “They photocopied the different activity sheets and the bookmakers and family trees — the library is really great at helping us put on this event. We couldn’t put it on without them.”

The activities offered at the event were intended to honor the grandparent-grandchild relationship, regardless of whether or not that relationship originated from a biological tie.

“Sometimes, a teacher or a neighbor becomes like a grandparent to a child,” said SPL Director Christy Hagerty. “It’s an important relationship to have and to promote — intergenerational care for one another.”

Children’s Library Assistant Jessie Ward reads a book about grandparents, Jean Reidy’s “A Grand Day,” in the Shepherdstown Public Library on Saturday. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

According to chapter president Susan Benson, this year’s celebration sported a good turnout, with about 50 people joining in on the celebration’s story time, family tree-making activity, Grandparents’ Day card craft and photo booth, which was once again rented this year from Laughing Hat Photo Booth.

“It’s been full like this, since it started,” Benson said.

While many of those in attendance had come to the library, specifically to attend the celebration, around 25% joined in the event spontaneously, after coming to the library for a different reason. Luckily for some of them, they just happened to be visiting the library with their grandchildren in tow.

“We were coming here anyway,” said Herndon, Va. resident Kim Bittle, as she watched her granddaughter decorate a card for one of her grandparents. “When we got here, we realized that Grandparents’ Day was being celebrated. It was such a nice surprise.”

Martinsburg resident Judith Reggiardo, on the other hand, had learned about the event, during a previous visit to the library, and made sure to add it to her and her grandchildren’s schedules.

From left to right, Shepherdstown resident Nathan Hyde makes a funny pose in the Laughing Hat Photo Booth, as his father and mother, Murray and Miluska Hyde, and older brother, Sebastian Hyde, smile beside him, at the Grandparents’ Day Celebration in the Shepherdstown Public Library on Saturday. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

“We were here three or four weeks ago and saw the sign that had been posted for the Grandparents’ Day Celebration,” Reggiardo said, mentioning the event was extra special for her, as this was her first year as a grandmother. “It was fun, to be able to celebrate it together in this way.”