As part of a year-long celebration of 130 years of service to the community, the Southwest Harbor Public Library is planning a mid-summer series of anniversary events for all ages. Happening July 21-27, activities will include a kick-off party, historical displays, children’s activities, and an evening with Pulitzer Prize winning author Richard Russo. The culminating event will be a festive barbecue with live music.
The anniversary celebration recognizes the construction and opening of the library’s brick building at 338 Main Street, built to house a growing collection that began in 1884 when resident Annie Sawyer Downs gathered cast-off books from the summer hotels and placed them on a shelf in a local drug store. Funded by donations from year-round and summer residents, the building was constructed over the summer of 1895 and was officially dedicated on October 31. (The library staff had been planning to celebrate the 125th anniversary in 2020, but the COVID pandemic forced a postponement.)
Featured writer Russo, who will speak Thursday, July 23 (time and venue to be announced), has written two memoirs and ten novels, most set in fictional small towns in New England. They include Straight Man, Bridge of Sighs, and three books set in upstate New York and referred to as the North Bath series: Nobody’s Fool, Everybody’s Fool and Somebody’s Fool. His 2001 Empire Falls, set on the Maine coast, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and Russo later adapted it into a television mini-series.
The finale of the 130th anniversary celebration week will be a ticketed event on Sunday, July 27, on the lawn of St. Andrew’s and St. John’s Episcopal Church, a barbecue with live music by J.B. Harrison and the Seal Harbor Boys. More information and access to registrations and tickets will be available on the library website this spring as details are firmed up. www.swhplibrary.org.
“We are so proud of how the community has embraced this place and our mission,” says library director Erich Reed. “We refer to our library as the living room of the community, and we take that to heart. We also take seriously our celebration motto, Opening Doors for 130 Years. Our goal is to open doors to knowledge and to the joys of reading. And with the continued support of the community, we’ll be opening these doors for another 130 years and beyond.”
Watch for updates at www.swhplibrary.org, call 207-244-7065, or email programs@swhplibrary.org.
