Story Time in the Gardens begins spring season with a mother-daughter guest reader pair

ERIN WEEKS, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·1 min read

Mar. 9—Story Time in the Gardens started back for its spring season on Tuesday afternoon. Story Time is held at the Rye Patch at Hopelands Gardens and features a new guest speaker at each meeting. Children in attendance each receive a free book before they leave.

Rebekah Mayfield, tourism coordinator for the Rye Patch and Hopelands, said that Story Time is all about "reading to kids, introducing them to new books."

Tuesday's guest readers were a mother-daughter pair: Ellen Luton, president of United Way of Aiken County, and Ashley Luton, a junior at South Aiken High School who has been named Distinguished Young Woman of Aiken County for 2025.

"This is really important to our Aiken community as a whole, but especially to the United Way of Aiken County because education is one of our four focus areas," said Ellen. "We enjoy getting to partner with the City of Aiken to help further education and promote a lifelong love of learning and reading."

"I think this was exciting because I've never done this before," said Ashley. "It was exciting to see how happy everyone was."

One of the children at the event, Selah Leopard, said that she enjoys Story Time "because it's fun and you get to listen to new books you've never read."

Another, Ellie Popham, said, "I like coming to Story Time because I get to spend time with my cousin and my brother and sister, and then we get to read new books."

Story Time in the Gardens will continue its spring season every Tuesday during the months of March, April and May from 4-5 p.m. Story Time is free to attend.