Get out your party hats and save room for the cake, because the
San Juan Bautista City Library is celebrating its 100th birthday
tonight.
San Juan Bautista – Get out your party hats and save room for the cake, because the San Juan Bautista City Library is celebrating its 100th birthday tonight.
“We’d just like people to come out and see us, even if they don’t normally get a chance to,” said Mary Genesy, President of the Library Auxiliary club. “It’s like a big open house.”
The library, which was founded March 22, 1906, technically turned 100 two weeks ago. Library volunteers held off on the celebrations until today, however, commemorating National Library Week as well as the city library’s centennial.
The festivities kick off at the library at 5:30 pm, with San Juan Mayor Dan Reed serving as master of ceremonies.
“It’s great that the City of San Juan Bautista has had a functioning library this long,” he said. “It represents the hard work of a lot of volunteers, and I’m looking forward to the event.”
County Supervisor Anthony Botelho will present the library with a proclamation from the county and a representative from State Senator Jeff Denham’s office will present a proclamation from the state.
“The library is special because of all the volunteers in the community who have worked so hard to make sure it’s stayed open throughout the years,” said Botelho. “It symbolizes the generous nature of the community.”
The library received a similar proclamation from the city at the March 21 city council meeting, congratulating the library on “100 years of reading.”
Local artwork will also be showcased at the reception, as well as an exhibit on San Juan’s children at the library. Library Assistant Adele Pimentel will be reading a story for any children present, and refreshments and birthday cake will be served. The San Juan Historical Society Museum next door will also be open to the public, and the celebration will continue until 8pm.
“The library is one of the few gathering places we have in San Juan, and we want to celebrate that,” said Genesy.
San Juan Bautista is the smallest city in California to boast a working library, and is one of the few libraries in the country tied to the city, instead of operating as part of a county system. It is also one of the oldest libraries in the state.
“We’re very excited,” said Pimentel. “For a library as old as we are to still be running, that’s really a great thing.”
The library was founded in 1906 as a reading room in the city’s Masonic Lodge, and loaned out not only books, but items such as silverware. It grew over the years with the help of what was at the time the Ladies’ Auxiliary Club – a group which today is co-ed and raises over $4,000 a year for the library through an annual barbecue and other small fundraiser.
In the mid 1970s San Juan resident Carl Luck left the land he operated a gas station on to the city, with the understanding that it would be used as a home for a proper library. After fairly extensive renovations, the library re-opened at its new location in 1979, where it has remained ever since.
Today the library serves a community of 1,720 people, and roughly 50 people daily – sometimes over 100 people visit on any given day. Over 5,000 books are housed in the library and available for check-out, and San Juan partners with libraries from throughout the region to borrow books that they don’t have on the shelves.
The San Benito County Library, located on 5th Street in Hollister, is also celebrating National Library Week. The library will be honoring its “Volunteer of the Year” Wednesday night with a potluck dinner, and Thursday night will have story time for ages zero to 3 and 3 and up, from 6-7:30pm.
For opportunities to help the San Juan City Library, call 623-4687.
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or ds****@fr***********.com
