Dozens of Friends of the Library gathered at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 24 in the library auditorium, for their last meeting this year as they shared covered dishes, bid farewell to the “snowbirds” (members who would be leaving the area for the winter), and celebrated the success of the literary festival and library programs.
Jane Lonon said the fifth annual On the Same Page literary festival’s “numbers increased substantially, with people coming from eight states and 43 zip codes within North Carolina.” Lonon also announced next year’s festival will take place Sept. 17-21 and the theme is “secrets.”
County Librarian Suzanne Moore’s presentation illustrated the library’s new signage and building directories which make the library more accessible to patrons, described the experiences of five staff members who were able to attend a rural libraries conference, and indicated ways which many town officials expressed support for the library and local children by reading to groups.
Youth services librarian Peggy Bailey outlined some of the successes of the youth programs throughout the year including 18 young adult programs with 242 participants and 22 juvenile programs with 1112 participants. These programs were sponsored by Friends of the Library and benefited from a generous contribution from Skyline/Skybest.
This year, the library hosted programs for all ages, a few of which included steampunk jewelry crafts which allowed teens to use their imaginations and odds and ends to create wearable works of art, a nocturnal-themed nature program in which children learned about nocturnal animals from park rangers, a zombie prom where the living dead owned the night with help from a Wilkesboro make-up artist, and many other educational attractions such as a portable planetarium and a speaker from the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh.
“We sincerely appreciate all the organizations which partnered with the library to provide programming for the youth,” said Bailey.
The next Friends of the Library meeting will be Wednesday, Feb. 27 featuring speaker Michelle Martin who walked the entire Appalachian Trail after the death of her husband.
Other upcoming events for the library include live music Saturday, a night-themed program for four and five-year-olds on Tuesday, extended hours and a costume parade on Halloween, and more. For more information about library programs, call 336-846-2041 or visit www.ashelibrary.com.
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