June Baggett, 3, gets her pirate hat put on her head Saturday by her mother, Jaime Baggett, during the Lawrence Public Library’s summer reading festival kickoff. June’s cousin Cade, 4, background right, also created a pirate hat at the festival, which included games, a yo-yo performer and the Marching Cobras.

Lawrence Public Library was anything but quiet Saturday morning as more than 30 members of the Marching Cobras drummed, danced and marched their way into the auditorium.

That’s exactly what Kim Fletcher wanted. Fletcher, services coordinator for the library, brought in the Marching Cobras to help kick off the youth summer reading program.

“We are just making it exciting,” Fletcher said of the library’s effort to encourage children to read over the summer.

Before heading inside for a break, the dance and drum team awed a crowd of children and their parents. Along with Kansas City’s Marching Cobras, the morning featured a yo-yo performer, games, snow cones and popcorn.

And that’s just the start of the library’s program geared toward youth this summer. The program is dedicated to Joyce Steiner, who was the youth services coordinator at the library from 2000 to 2009 and died last fall.

Thanks to a $23,000 grant from Kansas Health Foundation, the library will host special events at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. each Thursday throughout the summer. The performances will include bird handlers, puppeteers, musicians, jugglers and magicians.

“We were able to do a lot of cool events that we might not have been able to do,” Fletcher said of the grant.

Children 13 years and younger who read or listen to at least 12 books over the summer can return to the library and choose a free paperback book, get a gift from the Friends of the Library and receive coupons from local merchants.

Programs with prizes are also set up for teens and adults.

“We want to help schools so their kids are prepared for the school year. And we want them to have fun reading,” Fletcher said of the program.

Saturday’s festive atmosphere inspired many to check out library books. Emma Dixon, 10, had a bagful of about a dozen books and was holding a Harry Potter book in her hand.

She expected to finish them in a week or two.

“I don’t know — quite a few,” Emma said about how many she would read over the summer.

Trudy Foster was also walking out of the library with an armful of books, 14 to be exact. She was carrying them for her 10-month-old granddaughter and her 4-year-old grandson.

“I think reading is very important for children,” Foster said. “It helps them with their language, it helps them in education and to be better students.