Friends of the Library announce Festival total; elect new officers
Left to right: Dorajo Messerly (Children’s Librarian and Friends liaison), Beth Cheirrett (volunteer event planner for the festival), Hope Hansen (Library Director), Telisha Hayes (librarian), Paige Messerly (Friends Secretary), Caleb Messerly (volunteer), Jessie Ineck (Friends Vice President).
Beth Cherriet, newly elected president of the Friends of the Library, reported that during the Festival of Trees a total of $10,000 was raised by the community. Last December’s Festival was reported to be the largest yet in the history of the library, and certainly brought in a standing room only crowd of bidders, library fans, and Christmas well-wishers. In addition to major sponsors A+ Contractors and Cozy B Quilts, the Festival saw trees and wreaths donated by dozens of local and regional groups, all in the service of supporting programs at the library.
“It’s a place where we can always go, whatever the weather is like. My kids love the library!” Shany Beaman noted during the Festival. Like many people, she ended up volunteering to help at the event out of appreciation for the resources the library offers the community.
“We are so thankful for the support,” Beth Cherriett said. “This event was truly a community-wide effort, and we are so grateful!”
In addition to the regular library staff who are essential to the library’s operation and services, the Friends of the Library work to support its efforts through fundraising and event organization. Due to the way the library is constituted as a part of the city government, the Friends are the primary fund-raising arm of the institution.
The incoming Friends of the Library officers are Beth Cheirrett, serving as President; Kate Lauck as Vice President; Sabrina Mills as Secretary; Erica Goode as Treasurer, and Paige Messerly as the Marketing Director. Dorajo Messerly, Children’s Librarian, will serve as the Library Liaison to the Friends.
According to Dorajo Messerly and Library Director Hope Hansen, there is a lot planned for 2025. Some of the events are still under wraps, but the plans underway include a mixture of some of the time honored and much-loved activities like the Summer Reading program, which will hold their spots on the calendar alongside some new and intriguing sounding new additions.
Beyond the reading-based activities, the Library has also worked to build space for clubs and groups, like those interested in board games, D&D, Lego construction, crafting, early childhood education, and much more. One upcoming event that has been officially announced is a costume exchange scheduled for the fall. As the year rolls on, those who find themselves spring cleaning or anticipating “sizing up” their children’s costumes can donate them to the library for a planned costume exchange. The library staff asks that the donations be put in Ziploc bags with the size written on the outside. Donations will be taken until September 2.
Information on other future events will be coming soon, but congratulations to the Friends and the Library on the impressive Festival of Trees for 2024—here’s hoping that 2025 is even more
spectacular!
A text notification subscription for library events and dates has been introduced, and can be found at https://mailchi.mp/2cd60f46b7e7/subscribe or through the Facebook page for “Friends of the Soda Springs Library.”
