Library Marks 10th Birthday With Community Party

It’s not every day that your library turns 10 years old, so to celebrate the milestone, the is hosting a birthday party to which everyone is invited.

While the North Branch technically passed the decade mark on July 9, the library will host a party on Aug. 16 to celebrate with the community.

“We wouldn’t be able to celebrate milestones like this if it weren’t for our patrons,” said library director Larry Neal, in a release. “We wanted to show our appreciation for their support over the years.”

From 4 to 7 p.m. on Aug. 16, North Branch library patrons can take part in a children’s craft, free photos in a photo booth, face painting and cake.

The branch will also have a memory book on-site for people to reminisce about their experience at the library during the past decade. An online blog will be available for patrons who can’t make it to the birthday bash but want to share their memories just the same.

The South Branch on Gratiot, which turned 11 on Aug. 14, will celebrate its birthday from 1 to 5 p.m. on Aug. 13.

“We want our branch patrons to come out and celebrate with us,” Neal said. “We have a lot of fun things planned for both parties, but the thing we’re looking forward to most is families having a good time at the library.”

Both locations will also hold contests for adults and teens Aug. 15-26.

The adult contest will ask patrons to guess how many items were checked out at each branch in its 10- or 11-year history, while the teen contest, Branch Bytes, will ask patrons to identify specific areas and items in the library based on thumbnail pictures.