Two teens who spent seven weeks building remote-controlled cars at the Best Buy Teen Tech Center in Sandy Springs swept all three rounds of a finale race on July 29, capping what the Fulton County Library System called its most successful summer reading program on record at the Central Library.

Gabriel D. and Noel O. claimed every round of the RoboKong RC car race, held inside an inflated track in the Central Library lobby. Gabriel celebrated with a "slickback" airwalk dance on the track.

The RoboKong program, led by instructor Kid Kong at the Sandy Springs-based Best Buy Teen Tech Center, met every Thursday from June 11 through July 23. Participants designed and built six electric RC cars from scratch, gaining engineering and design skills along the way, according to a recap posted by the library.

Record numbers

The broader Summer Reading Program drew 1,048 participants across adult, teen and children's categories, with 1,021 books logged through the Beanstack reading challenge, library associate Nechelle Roberts wrote in a blog post published Aug. 10. The library offered 124 programs that attracted 2,770 total attendees.

The most popular sessions included adult author talks, teen computer and technology programs, and children's storytimes.

This was also the first year the program launched with two separate kick-off parties: an adults-only event June 1 featuring New York Times bestselling author Alexandra Elle, and an all-ages celebration June 5 with musician and storyteller Tariq Mahdi.

The Grand Finale on July 29 featured one-man-band Jerry G. White before the RoboKong race. The lobby was filled with balloon art, face painting, arts and crafts, and a raffle for back-to-school prizes and restaurant gift cards.

As we reported in our Sandy Springs Library summer reading wrap-up on July 29, the local branch hosted its own finale day. The system-wide numbers confirm the program's record reach.