Centennial celebration a ‘reminder to read’
On April 4 the San Juan Bautista Library Auxiliary will host
a
”
birthday party
”
of sorts for San Juan’s public library.
The centennial party, according to Library Auxiliary member
Glenny Farney, will
”
celebrate the fact that we made it. One hundred years is a long
time!
”
Centennial celebration a ‘reminder to read’
On April 4 the San Juan Bautista Library Auxiliary will host a “birthday party” of sorts for San Juan’s public library.
The centennial party, according to Library Auxiliary member Glenny Farney, will “celebrate the fact that we made it. One hundred years is a long time!”
The auxiliary, which has maintained the San Juan Bautista library since before its official creation in 1906 and its dedication as the “Luck Library” in 1979, also hopes that the celebration will encourage those in the community to remember the value of the printed word.
“Everyone is welcome,” said Farney of the event, “fellow library enthusiasts, San Juan residents, anybody who’s just curious. There will be food, displays, and things for people to explore. After all, it’s their party; the auxiliary is just organizing it.”
There will be an opening ceremony at 5:30 p.m., with Mayor Dan Reed serving as the master of ceremonies and featuring guest speeches by local officials and library enthusiasts. Several Library Auxiliary scrapbooks will be on display to showcase the rich history of San Juan Bautista’s public library, as well as historical books, photos and documents spanning the library’s rich 100-year history.
At the request of the auxiliary, San Juan Bautista City Ordinance 15A established a public library for the city of San Juan Bautista in November of 1905, however it did not officially take effect until 1906. For the next 73 years, the library was housed in a room below the Masonic Hall on Second Street and maintained by the Library Auxiliary. Then, in 1979, Francesca Luck donated the building now called the Luck Memorial Library, and the city began actively working to maintain the library; to this day it is the smallest city library in the state of California.
The Carl Luck Museum, maintained by San Juan Bautista’s Historical Society and not often open to the public, will also be accessible to curious library goers, “so visitors can really appreciate how much history is behind this library, and this town.”
“Our biggest goal is to remind everyone that libraries are very important. Kids now have television, but they still need to read books,” said Farney.
For more information about the upcoming celebration, contact Glenny Farney at 831-623-4324.
