To mark the 30th anniversary of the North Tillamook Library in Manzanita the library’s Friends group is hosting a celebration on July 8, 2017 at the Hoffman Gardens adjacent to the library at 571 Laneda Avenue.
Friends celebrate 30 years
The celebration will include a children’s story time, family music fun with Portland singer and musician Mo Phillips and the Ocean Bottom Country Blues Band featuring Tillamook County’s library director Sara Charlton, a presentation on the library’s history by Patty Went and an appearance by special guest Lauren Kessler, the noted Oregon author.
“For thirty years the North Tillamook Library has been building a community of learners by serving the communities of Wheeler, Nehalem and Manzanita, as well as the rural areas of north Tillamook County,” said Madeline Olson, president of the Friends of the Library. “Three decades ago visionary community leaders developed the plan and the funding to construct a beautiful building. All of us have benefited from that foresight and we are eager to celebrate thirty great years, thank our friends and acknowledge the great partnership we enjoy with the Tillamook County library.”
The North Tillamook Library operates with a unique public-private partnership. The Friends organization owns and maintains the library building, while the county library supplies all library materials and the professional library staff.
Oregon author Lauren Kessler will talk about the importance of libraries in both her work and her reading life. (Lauren offers some additional thoughts about her work and libraries below.)
Schedule of events on July 8:
11 a.m. – noon: Story Time in the Library
Noon – 1:00 pm: Family fun with Mo Phillips
1:00 – 2:00 pm: Music by Ocean Bottom Country Blues Band featuring Tillamook County head librarian Sara Charlton
2:00 – 3:00 pm: Welcome by Friends President Madeline Olson
Friends and library history presentation by Patty Went
“Tribute to Libraries” by Oregon author Lauren Kessler
3:00 – 4:00 pm: Music, socializing – and cake!
The public is invited to attend this free event and consider becoming a Friend of the Library.
Lauren Kessler…on Life, Work and Libraries
A highlight of the Library’s 30th anniversary celebration will be an appearance and talk by award-winning Oregon author Lauren Kessler. The author of nine works of narrative non-fiction, Kessler describes herself as a “(semi) fearless immersion reporter and self-designated guinea pig journalist who combines lively narrative with deep research to explore everything from the seemingly romantic but oh-so-gritty world of ballet to the wild, wild west of the anti-aging movement.”
Kirkus called her latest book Raising the Barre: Big Dreams, False Starts, and My Midlife Quest to Dance the Nutcracker, “An amusingly shrewd memoir of following a lifelong dream.” And People Magazine, which named the book one of the best of 2015, said the story was “eloquent, funny and inspiring.”
Kessler, a huge champion of libraries and a Friend of the North Tillamook Library, lives in Eugene and in anticipation of her July 8th visit to Manzanita generously agreed to answer a couple of questions.
Q. Could you tell us a bit about what you are working on these days?
“My work-in-progress is a book entitled A Grip of Time based on my (ongoing) two-year experience leading a writers’ group for Lifers at Oregon State Penitentiary. It is an exploration of the life lived by those who have lived most of their lives behind bars, of what it means to live such a life, to attempt to craft a life of meaning in a meaningless place, to ‘do time without it doing you,’ as they say.
“The book is also about us – the readers, me — facing prejudices and fears about criminals, torn between revenge and forgiveness, grappling with the notion that people who are capable of doing bad things may not be bad people. Or that people are capable of significant change, that it is possible that even the worst of us can remake and redeem himself. I continue to lead the group twice a month as I am writing. The book will be out in early 2019.”
Q. Obviously you are a big fan of libraries. Can you tell us a little about your affection for libraries? How did it begin?
“My affection for libraries and how that began is the subject of my talk at the event! So you’ll just have to promo it that way!”
Q. How do libraries figure in your own research and writing? And do you have thoughts about the role libraries play in the life of a small community in a rural area like Tillamook County?
“My work is a combination of immersion reportage, cultural anthropology and history. At every step of the way, I ‘report out’ from experience, hoping to bring depth and context to the subject. I have long depended on the resources in libraries – digital and bricks and mortar – to help me in this. I have also been …the word is ‘blessed’ and I use it advisedly … to know and work with extraordinary librarians who have not only gone out of their way to help but have sometimes “adopted” my projects and taken them into their hearts.
“Cicero wrote ‘A room without books is like a body without a soul.’ Now substitute a ‘community’ without a ‘library’ is like a body without a soul. That’s how important I think libraries are to communities, big and small — but especially to small, rural communities where there are fewer cultural opportunities. Books open the world to us. In rural and isolated communities, they bring the world to our doorstep.”
Creativity Boosting Session for Adults slated July 6
Reinvigorate your creative life, whether you are a painter, writer, photographer, or an artist of any kind, the Creative Boosting Session will give you the tools and inspiration to give your artistic side a boost!
The workshop will be held Thursday, July 6, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the North Tillamook Library in Manzanita. Mark your calendar.
Summer Programs at the Library in full swing
A series of fun and educational events for children (and adults too) are underway at the North Tillamook Library in Manzanita. The remainder of the summer program schedule looks like this:
Saturday, July 8, at 12 noon, it’s Music with Mo Phillips for singing and dancing.
Friday, July 14, at 3 p.m., Penny’s Puppets visits the library.
Friday, July 21, at 3 p.m., catch Juggling with Curtis Carlyle.
Friday, Aug. 4, at 3 p.m., summertime programs come to a close on with the ever-popular Bug Chicks.
