Franklin Public Library hosts Eid Celebration

Photos by Sandra Whitehead

Tina Bleibel of Greenfield and her sons (left to right) Idris, 5; Zayn, 7; and twins Khaled and Mohamad, 3, show off Eid lanterns the boys made at Franklin Public Library’s Eid celebration.

Children skipped into the Franklin Public Library the first Sunday afternoon in April to celebrate the Eid, a Muslim holiday that marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and neighbors followed. Some young boys came in suits or long, loose-fitting robes and some little girls in gowns or dresses that sparkled. Other children wore play clothes. 

Muslims around the world celebrated Eid al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan, which lasted through the month of March this year. During Ramadan, Muslims fasted daily from dawn to sunset and focused on worship, charity and spirituality. Eid al-Fitr marks the breaking of the fast with feasts and festivals.

Joe Morgan and his wife Marwah of Cudahy help their children Lamees, Zayn and Malik make Eid lanterns.

More than 215 adults and children from Franklin and its neighboring communities participated April 6 in an “Eid Celebration for All Ages” at the Franklin Public Library, 9151 W. Loomis Road. The library and the Muslim Women’s Coalition partnered to create the event, which was dreamed up and made a reality by two librarians—Keri Whitmore, assistant director of Franklin Public Library, and Jenny Wegener, librarian at the Islamic Resource Center, 5235 S. 27th St., Greenfield.

Grandmother Maysa Ghazawneh, father Abdullah Yousfan and mother Naema Ahmad, of Greenfield pose with Malak Yousfan (center) for a photo.

Inside Franklin Public Library’s large Fadrow Room, families clustered at tables where they tried a variety of holiday crafts. Adults and teens helped young children make Eid lanterns, bookmarks featuring Islamic-style art, pins with their names written in Arabic, scratch-off art with a picture of a mosque underneath and more. 

Older children and adults stopped by a table to have their hands painted with elaborate designs of henna, a reddish-orange natural dye. Some parents read stories to children from books provided by the Islamic Resource Center’s lending library. Others went into the main library to check out books about the Eid from Franklin Public Library’s collection.

 Children and parents color bookmarks with geometric patterns, typical of Islamic art.

Franklin Public Library’s first Eid celebration 

In early 2024, Franklin Public Library’s assistant director Keri Whitmore searched for speakers who might speak at a program about the history of Ramadan, “just an informational, adult-centered program,” she said in an interview after the Eid event.

“I think it’s really important to have events here at the library that reflect everyone in our community,” Whitmore continued. “And also educate those in the community who might not share the same cultural experiences, beliefs and life experiences.”

Franklin Public Library also strives to have books about a variety of cultures so “that everyone can see themselves in a book,” she added. “We try to buy books that reflect our community in all of our collections. 

Franklin Public Library and the Muslim Women’s Coalition collaborated to create an Eid celebration for Franklin families.

Franklin has a culturally diverse population that includes Muslims of Arab, Indian, Pakistani, North African and African American descent. A number of civic-minded Muslims in Franklin are active in local government and volunteer in the community. Franklin School Board treasurer Maqsood Khan, M.D., the city’s first Muslim elected official, estimates that of Franklin’s population of about 36,000, more than 1,300 are Muslims and growing. 

The Franklin Public Library works to keep up, Whitmore said.

“We have Ramadan books for children. We also have books in Arabic, Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi. We always look for English-language fiction that has Islamic themes or Muslim characters, as we do for other communities in Franklin, like Indian Americans.”

Whitmore didn’t hear from any potential speakers for a Ramadan event so her initiative was on hold. Then she saw in the Wisconsin Library Association newsletter that Islamic Resource Center librarian Jenny Wegener was chosen WLA’s August 2024 “Member of the Month.” 

“I contacted Jenny out of the blue and told her we really want to have a program about Ramadan and the Eid here at our library,” Whitmore said. “I asked her to ‘Please help.’”

“And, of course, I agreed,” Wegener said. “That’s a librarian thing. If somebody asks you to share knowledge, you just do it. I was very happy to be invited.”

“Once I contacted Jenny, she ran with it,” Whitmore said.

“I always come to (planning library events) by asking myself, ‘What can we do for the kids that’ll get their parents in here?’” Wegener explained. “My programming generally tends to be family centered. I came up with some crafts and we tossed a few things around, emailing back and forth.

“I mostly was thinking of families with children because those are the people who are looking for fun things to do,” Wegener said.

Eid celebration to become a Franklin tradition

“Today was one of those days when you really feel good to be a librarian,” Whitmore said after the Eid event. “I was so impressed by the number of teenagers that came.”

“And how many older adults stopped in and asked questions!” Wegener added. 

“I would love to do it again and maybe we could do two programs,” Whitmore suggested to Wegener. “We could do something for the adults and also for families. All our family programming here is always well attended. It went over exceedingly well yesterday; we can’t not do it again!” 

During the interview, Whitmore and Wegener began brainstorming for next year. 

“You know where we had the posters on easels, maybe we should bring more artifacts for a display and have a board member there to talk about the items and answer questions,” Wegener said.

“We can get more volunteers, too,” Whitmore said.

“It worked out well for our first year,” said Wegener. “Janan Najeeb, our executive director came in today and said it was all over several group chats. Many people posted about how great it was and how much fun they had.” Franklin Public Library also had photos of the event on its Facebook page.

“I hope we can do more with the MWC (Muslim Women’s Coalition),” Whitmore said.

“Definitely,” Wegener said. “We love to do outreach. What I love about doing events with the Muslim community is everyone’s willingness to help somebody else’s kid. A mom sitting near a craft project asked if she could help. She stayed there and helped kids the whole time.

“How loving this whole community is just makes my heart so happy! Everyone cares about each other and about each other’s children.” 

“One of the things that really stood out to me was seeing all the people coming in and greeting each other,” Whitmore said. “They knew each other. They gave hugs and kisses. It was a joyful event.”

Muslim Women’s Coalition board member Ream Bahhur and her niece Sama Bahhur, both of Franklin. Sama wears a pin she created.

Iman Hinnawi of Franklin and her sons (left to right) Elias, Bilal and Azmi Darras agreed they had fun at the Franklin Public Library’s Eid celebration.