On Saturday at 11am, the Depauville Free Library will celebrate the completion of a four month construction
project that added space for a new Children’s Room and the recently established
North Country Archaeology Center. The library will also dedicate the Marc A.F. Baker Reading Room.
Assemblywoman Addie Russell, D-Theresa, will join Clayton Town Supervisor Justin Taylor, Dani F. Baker, and others for a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the new areas of the library.
“Libraries
are important to the health of any community,” Russell said. “I look forward to
the vibrant programs Depauville will be able to offer and will continue to
support the important work that local libraries do every day.”
Library friends and
members of the community are warmly invited to attend. Light refreshments,
including pies from the Elizabeth Huchzermeier Pie Contest held earlier in
the day, will be served.
The project has been many years
in the making. Depauville Free Library applied for and received grant funding
from the state Education Department’s Library Construction Program to build a
small, 768 square foot, two-story addition to increase energy efficiency
and climate control in the entire library, provide its
downstairs Community Room with a handicap accessible entrance and bathroom, and,
on the main floor, create a room for their very young patrons - a space that the
children have very much needed.
The State grant of
$108,441 was estimated to cover 75% of the project. Russell provided $7,500 towards the project. Additional funding was provided through the Town of Clayton, the Depauville Free Library and the state Senate.
Funding for the Marc A.F.
Baker Reading Room, dedicated to reading intervention, was made possible
through the generosity of Dani F. Baker, Wellesley Island, co-owner of Cross
Islands Farms. The gift was made in memory of her son, Marcus, who died at the
age of 21 in 2002.
Dr. Laurie Rush, Cultural
Resources Manager at Fort Drum, and Ken and Nolan Knapp, local archaeologists,
contributed to the newly created North Country Archaeology Center.
“Depauville’s history, rich in indigenous settlements, makes it a perfect place
to house artifacts from the region,” Dr. Rush explained.
Library Board President,
Tresa Forkey, said the library has grown since its creation in 1954 from one room in the old Town Hall to a vibrant place where even the youngest patrons have a room of their own. The library is home to a wide variety of community services, including giving children struggling with reading individualized help and a seed library that offers local gardeners access to high-quality seeds.
Forkey went
on to say, “The library lives in a small, redbrick schoolhouse turned
library but is bigger on the inside not only because every book has an entire
word inside of it, but because with the help of many supporters, the building
that houses us has become a little larger, enabling Depauville Free Library to
better serve its community and continue to offer families a place to
learn and play and resources to fuel their imaginations.”
Several other events are planned
around the dedication. Winners of the Betty Streets Art Contest, that this year
asked kids to draw a self-portrait, will be announced at 10am. Pies for the
Elizabeth Huchzermeier Pie Contest must be delivered to the library by 10am to
be judged, and the winners, as well as the winners of the Pauline Flick Jam and
Pickle Contest, will be announced at 10:30.
Staff from the Minna Anthony Common Nature Center, with their apple press in tow, will be at
the library starting at 10am to demonstrate the process of making cider and
offering tasty samples.
At noon, to cap off a busy morning, Master Falconer Rick West, of Adams, New
York, will be exhibiting his birds of prey. The show is free. Among the birds
Rick will bring to the library will be hawks, owls, a Kestrel falcon, a
Gyrfalcon, and a Kookaburra. Bring your kids! Bring your camera! Bring a
folding chair!