Post Falls celebrates library’s 90th anniversary
“Ninety years ago, Post Falls was just a small village with a faith in its future,” says Post Falls public librarian Joe Reiss. “The town chartered a public library as a reflection of its belief in the power of knowledge to help humanity on its perpetual voyage into the future.”
On Wednesday, the Post Falls community will honor the commitment made by its founding citizens with the Post Falls Public Library’s 90th Anniversary Party Celebration, which also officially kicks off Post Falls’ Winterfest activities.
Festivities begin at 6 p.m. when the public is invited to listen to special holiday music performed by local school groups. Santa Claus arrives at approximately 7:35 p.m. and hot cider and cookies will be served during the evening.
At 6:55, Pearl Harbor veteran Ed Nealand, will officially light Post Falls’ Christmas tree. Nealand is being honored in commemoration of all the United States citizens who sacrificed and suffered on Dec. 7, 1941.
At 7:05, the “IMAGINE” artwork in the Children’s Room Library will be dedicated in a brief ceremony honoring those whose donations made the artwork project possible.
Coeur d’Alene resident and artist Donna Bain created the bright, multicolor sculptures that adorn the children’s library walls. The sculptures are made of glass and metal and consist of touchable creatures and of individual letters that spell the word “IMAGINE.”
“When I was hired to produce the artwork,” Bain says, “I was told to use my imagination.”
Consequently, the word “IMAGINE” stuck as the theme of the project because, Bain says, “if children use their imaginations they will see something different each time they view the sculptures.”
The Friends of the Library helped to make the artwork project possible.
The Friends of the Post Falls Library charter dates to February 1964 when faithful volunteer members came every Tuesday to do various tasks such as cleaning the pantry, landscaping, typing library cards – and they have been helping ever since.
Managed by the Friends of the Library, Twice Told Tales Used Book and Gift Shop is a nonprofit business that was opened within the library in 1999. The bookshop’s main purpose is to provide funds for the purchase of special things for the library that are over and above the library’s operating budget.
Peggy Brown, chairman of the Twice Told Tales Used Book and Gift Shop Committee, began volunteering when she moved to Post Falls in 1999.
“When I moved to Post Falls, I did three things immediately – joined the gym, got my driver’s license and my library card,” she says laughing.
The bookstore will be expanding and moving across the hall in the next couple of months. Last year the bookstore sold more than 15,000 books, and, according to Brown, “100 percent of the proceeds were returned to the library.”
“Peggy Brown is one of the main pillars in the Friends group,” Reiss says. “To me she is one of the most amazing people I know. She is totally dedicated, and without fanfare goes about making the library a better place and Post Falls a better community. She really is what being a citizen is all about.”
Reiss says volunteerism has played a vital role in the success of the Post Falls Library.
“The Friends of the Library should actually be called the Friends of the Future,” Reiss says, “because that is what they believe in, and that is what they are building.”