— by John Erly —
The Island is down to very few folks who were born here on Orcas. There are a considerable number of people who have lived on the Island for 20 to 70 years.
Most folks move here because of the uniqueness of the Island, which includes “traditions”. Olga Days, Island Hardware summer sale and free lunch, Fly In (First Saturday in August), Library Fair (Second Saturday in August), County Fair (Third week in August), just to name a few. For years visitors from all over the world and locals have been able to know and plan their year in advance. All of the sudden we have seen a move to do away with some of the things that made Orcas Special.
Library Fair was held the first few years on Main Street in front of Episcopal Church. It was moved to the “GRASS” area of the Village Green in 1996, it stayed there for many years. The Park was an area to spread out in cool place. Since the move, each year there would be between 40 and 60 booths. As many as 15 food booths. any Tables of books, “BIG” silent auction. Music almost all day, with a grassy area for the crowds. The [Farmers] Market would set up in the street for this one weekend a month.
The Library Fair is now in what “I” believe to be in a hot, dusty and cramped area. I work in the Village, many folks stop by my office and ask what happened to the Library Fair. When told where it moved to, most decide not to go there.
My guess is that if you ask the “Island Folks and Visitors” where they would like to see it, the [Village Green] would be the winner by a large majority. The Library Fair is sponsored by the Friends of the Library, the proceeds are used for Library operations.
It would be nice if the folks who are running the events on Orcas would consider bringing the Library Fair Back to the Village Green.
Don’t forget the live auction, white elephant sale and HS dory auction that all used to be huge draws and fundraisers for the library (and HS shop class) in the pre-taxed library district days and for awhile after. Great fun. We even had celebrity auctioneers. I used to work the auction every year as a kid and learned a lot from Bob Rau about appraisals. One year we also raffled a large sailboat at the fair and raised $10,000 for the library.
Thanks John and Tom! My thoughts Exactly! The Library Fair used to be fun and relaxed! A true “Fair”.
Spirit Eagle
I absolutely agree with all of this, and am so glad you spoke up, John. What used to be a festive, community gathering, right in the heart of town, (which is, metaphorically, where the library SHOULD be held and celebrated), has all but disappeared. I believe it is counter-productive to the well-being of the community and, as a consequence, the library itself, for the two to move in the direction of separation. It was a joyous occasion to have the library and its treasury of books on the village green, during the market and available for everyone. Occasions like these are vital to the health of a community and that is just the tip of a mountain of benefits to be had from them. The last thing in the world libraries need right now is anything that separates them from the common stream of community life. Bring the library fair back to the village green, please!
Hearing a call to honor traditions. Worth noting.
I agree with John, whole-heartedly !! My family has lived here for over 40 years and the Library Fair was a special event. When the Library was in the building on Main St. where The Sounder now resides, the Fair was in the street and was a joyous affair. I remember meeting Jean Enerson of KING there one year while she was on vacation. The Fair at the “new” Village Green was still a great event. Now it is little more than a book-exchange, and I didn’t even bother to visit this year.
Let’s move the Library Fair back to the Village Green.
AND, how about a rejuvenated Family Festival !! Do you remember the bathtub races? The original Salmon BarBQ? Putting your friends in jail to raise money for local causes? The brass bed races down North Beach Rd?
Debbie Shaw remembers!! And, I’ll bet, John Erly does too.
I agree with John, whole-heartedly !! My family has lived here for over 40 years and the Library Fair was a special event. When the Library was in the building on Main St. where The Sounder now resides, the Fair was in the street and was a joyous affair. I remember meeting Jean Enerson of KING there one year while she was on vacation. The Fair at the “new” Village Green was still a great event. Now it is little more than a book-exchange, and I didn’t even bother to visit this year.
Let’s move the Library Fair back to the Village Green.
AND, how about a rejuvenated Family Festival !! Do you remember the bathtub races? The original Salmon BarBQ? Putting your friends in jail to raise money for local causes? The brass bed races down North Beach Rd?
Debbie Shaw remembers!! And, I’ll bet, John Erly does too.
Amen brother John. We are in desperate need of a careful and thorough examination of our definitions of progress as applied to Orcas Island – not anywhere else. Are we unique? Or are we just the face in the back row?
Well I guess someone has to be the devil’s advocate:
Although I agree with how fun the Library Fair was – my favorite place was on the street near the old library – I have to speak to two things: 1) the people who do all the volunteering to lift and schlep all those books are aging – this is true of all volunteerism in general. I just don’t see that many young people filling these very important jobs as people age out of being able to lift that amount of books (Lynn Richards comes to mind – he volunteered for so many events, well into his 80s). 2) having all those books close to the library makes sense, if we are not getting the people to volunteer to help with this tremendous amount of work. Same for the art auction – I miss that! again, all the work fell to just a few people. i LOVED the dunk tank for our local county council person (then called “commissioner.” I remember the thrill of dunking a few politicians! I think if we want it to happen the old way again, people have to step up, volunteer, and make it happen! We can’t expect an aging demographic to do it all without some help of younger people to carry on the traditions we love.
My wife Karen and I were emcees and auctioneers for several years and the truth is that it is very difficult to interest or engage any younger community members to help in this sort of endeavor. As a Lions club member for over 25 years we see it is harder and harder to get volunteers interested in helping. The same few people seem to be the ones who step up and make something happen. Sad but true and as we age we can only hope the interests are re-kindled in our community.