The second annual Vet Fest at the Northwest Regional Library next week will honor veterans.

The event will take place from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, at 519 Chiquita Blvd., N.

Lee County Library System Programming & Community Outreach Manager Melissa Baker said the event was held in May last year to honor Military Appreciation Month. They decided to hold the event in November this year because of Veterans Day.

“We are really excited about this. We are proud of this event,” Baker said. “We anticipate it will continue to be an annual event held in November.”

Reference Librarian Jackie McGuire took the lead in planning and coordinating the event last year.

“She’s done all the heavy lifting and passion to the event to make it as wonderful and successful as it was last year,” Baker said of the nearly 1,000 attendees who attended the inaugural event.

With Cape Coral being a Purple Heart city, they wanted to honor the sacrifices made and tie that into the library by bringing community organizations together to support that.

With that said, the event will start rotating locations, so they reach more, and raise awareness, in different parts of Lee County.

“The organizations, the look and feel, and the nuts and bolts will be very similar,” Baker said. “The different sites will present different opportunities of how to reimage it.”

The event is for veterans and their families, as well as the general public.

“It’s for anyone who wants to celebrate and honor the service and sacrifice of our veterans,” Baker said. “We are promoting and honoring veterans for the festival.”

There will be a plethora of activities, live music, food trucks Donut NV and Dawg Pound, and resources available at the library.

Kids and teens can make thank you letters and holiday cards, participate in a community art project — creating an American flag out of red, white, and blue handprints and kindness rocks.

“They are really focusing on expanding family-oriented activities that are designed to honor and support veterans,” Baker said.

The whole library will be bustling with organizations — housing, employment, transition assistance, VFW, DAV chapters, Military Heritage — serving veterans. They have doubled the number of local organizations serving veterans for this year’s event.

Library services will also have tables to showcase the resources that are beneficial to veterans.

Baker said there will also be cool exhibits on display from Oasis Middle School where individuals can honor family members who are veterans.

“Every corner of the library is going to be in celebration for our veterans. I think it is going to be a great event. Come out early and stay for the whole thing,” she said. “I am super happy that we are able to put this on for the community and I hope the community will come out and enjoy it with us.”

Baker encourages everyone to attend.

“Anyone and everyone can appreciate the veterans,” she said. “They sacrificed for us. We are amplifying that — say a big thank you and connecting people with resources they need.”