Marcia Spees and Carla Stanley at the Orcas Public Library party
More events planned this year
The Orcas Island Public Library turned 20 with a grand splash today, as it held an Open House with an abundance of yummy cake from Island Market and a creatively outstanding display of graphics depicting its historic move in 1993 from a storefront “shop” on Main Street to its present location.
Librarian Kathy Lunde connected with Marcia Spees and Leith Templin to organize library archives and photos. In turn, they engaged artist Carla Stanley to create newspaper and magazine “covers” depicting the various stages of the move and changes, updates and expansions since then.
A photo collage shows photo reproductions of many of the people involved in the Orcas Public Library. The display case in the lobby shows more pictures and articles about the library’s history.
The graphics will be on display through the summer, and on July 20 the Library will hold another anniversary celebration. The Library Fair will relocate on August 10 to be held on the Library grounds and parking lot on Rose Street, Executive Director Phil Heikkinen announced.
Also in the public library’s plans are a 1,500 to 1,800 building expansion of a multi-purpose area that may include study rooms, quiet reading areas, an office and a “bistro” serving coffee. All these plans will be discussed in coming months at the Library Board meetings, held the second Monday of each month — Feb. 11 this month — at 8 a.m. in the Library. This is a new time, Heikkinen notes.
Thanks to Margie for sharing the word about our building’s 20th anniversary celebration.
Kathy Lunde did a fantastic job of coordinating this event for the Library. And a special thanks to our volunteers Marcia Spees, Leith Templin, and Carla Stanley for donating their time and talents!
The Friends will be holding the Library Fair on our grounds this year to help us with our ongoing celebration. Be sure to look for information about other events, too, in addition to our summer picnic.
Our Library Board discussions regarding planning for a building addition are still very preliminary (including whether we’d include a bistro!), and we’ll be encouraging community participation.