Back to school days loom near and one popular summer program is bidding summer a fond farewell with a performance by Emmy winning children’s show host Willa Brigham.

Brigham, star of WRAL TV’s “Smart Start Kids,” will be the main attraction at Brown Library’s finale for its Summer Reading Program.

“Willa is a professional storyteller, a published author—mainly poetry—and she can also sing some songs,” said Terry Rollins, children’s librarian. “She just has very high energy, audiences will be in store for a lot of laughter and fun.”

Ms. Willa, as she’s known, is a member of the North Carolina Storytelling Guild and has been telling stories professionally for 25 years, Rollins said. Her performance marks the end of a summer series that featured a visit from Roanoke aquarium animals, a real rabbits pulled from hats by magician Rob Prescott.

Children, ages 3 through 12, do not have to sign up for Brigham’s show but they must be accompanied by an adult, Rollins said. The event will be held from 11 a.m. to noon on Friday, in the Fellowship Hall of the First United Methodist Church in Washington.

Rollins said he expects a big crowd for the final performance—that’s how successful this year’s Summer Reading Program and its events have been.

“We have had hundreds of children coming in, checking out books and attending events,” Rollins said. “I have seen more enthusiasm this summer than I have seen from the children in past years.”

Rollins credits family support and Beaufort County Schools teachers’ promotion of summer reading with the program’s popularity

“Having worked in other libraries—in Wilson, Chapel Hill and the Durham area—I would say the families of Washington and Beaufort County understand what it means to be able to read and how important it is,” Rollins explained.

He said he’s seen parents, grandparents, siblings helping young readers in the library all summer.

“I’ve just seen families instilling in children a love of reading,” Rollins said. “The turnout has been tremendous this year.”

First United Methodist Church is located at 304 West Second Street, Washington.