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A year after debuting Trivia Night at Take 16 Brewing in Luverne, Rock County Library director Calla Jarvie isn’t surprised at the event’s success.
“But I am so pleased,” she said. “This outreach has done wonders for patronage.”
Jarvie took over as director in February 2018 after working with the Siouxland Libraries in Sioux Falls. While there, the library partnered with community organizations to help bring more awareness to the public of the library’s offerings and events.
Three months later in Luverne, Trivia Night debuted at Take 16, occurring the first Thursday of each month since then.
The nights have attracted 20 or more one- to four-member teams who answer five rounds of 10 questions each. Ten points are awarded for each correct answer and teams with the most points earn prizes.
Attendance at the first trivia night was 23 people. The event gained in popularity and now averages 65 to 90 people.
“We have such an enthusiastic community,” Jarvie noted. “We have die-hard teams who have been at every Trivia Night since the beginning, and we’re still getting new teams every month.”
The duo of Lorri Bristow, Worthington, and Michael Paulzine, Fulda, won the first Trivia Night contest, which attracted 23 people.
Since then the couple has been regular attendees and were at Thursday’s anniversary event.
Now a team of four, Bristow’s daughter, Amanda Hoppe, and her husband, Mike, travel from Rock Rapids, Iowa, for the evening of answering questions and sampling the brewery’s craft beers and sodas.
Take 16’s corn-based beer was renamed 641.873, the Dewey Decimal number for beer brewing, in honor of Trivia Night’s first-year anniversary.
Bristow and Paulzine are quick to credit library staff for their repeat appearances.
“They keep it fun,” Lorri said.
Seventy people participated in Thursday’s anniversary event where children’s librarian Bronwyn Wenzel asked trivia questions to the theme, “How Well Do You Know Your Library Staff?”
Answers pertained to experiences by Wenzel, Jarvie or assistant library director Barb Verhey.
“Which librarian sang with the Johnny Holm Band?” Answer: Verhey.
“Who had their driver’s license taken away as a teenager?” Answer: Jarvie.
“Who had a pet horned toad named ‘Thorny?’” Answer: Wenzel.
Since Trivia Night’s debut, more than 700 specially written questions have been asked at the monthly Trivia Night along with two special trivia events.
Jarvie is the principal trivia question writer.
“One of my favorite things to do is write trivia questions,” she said. “I am always thinking of topics, so I carry a notebook around with me so I can jot them down.”
As a librarian, Jarvie doesn't lack for resources and reminds Trivia Night participants the theme topics and the questions’ answers can be found at the public library.
“One of our goals of outreach is to connect with people who do not normally come into the library,” she said. “We have had several Trivia Nightgoers come in and sign up for library cards.”
Occasionally library staff has introduced incentives for extra Trivia Night points
Teams earned 20 to 40 extra points if they participated in the “Library Card Sign Up” month, wrote and read original poems with a library patronage theme or snapped a photo inside a library or with a librarian.
“It was a blast to see the photos that came in,” Jarvie said.
A side benefit to the library’s community outreach efforts is that the staff has fun too.
“I learned long ago that you can’t hide in the library and wait for new people to come to you — you have to go out and get them where they are,” Jarvie added.
During Trivia Night, the three librarians (dubbed “The Posse” by library board member Bruce Olson) wear specially designed turquoise-colored T-shirts.
Wenzel began the night reading questions, Jarvie kept score on a white board and Verhey donned a toy sheriff’s badge and carried a pair of handcuffs.
Verhey makes sure no one uses a cell phone to answer any trivia questions.
“I haven’t had to use the cuffs — yet,” she said. “Although I’ve threatened many times.”
As Trivia Night enters year two, Jarvie said she would like to try adding visual and audio categories to the questions.
“We plan to continue extra credit activities, primarily because they’re so amusing to us,” she said.
Trivia Night is the first Thursday of each month. The event begins at 7 p.m. at Take 16 Brewing in Luverne.