Last weekend was huge for Carroll County, marking the opening of the County Fair, a Berryville Founders Day celebration of the past 150 years, and, most anticipated of all, the Grand Opening of the new Berryville Public Library on Friday, August 7.
Although fundraising for the new library began in earnest in 2021, a new library had been a dream for decades. Often talked about, but seemingly out of reach, a new building was so improbable that longtime library director and supporter, Carol Ann Engskov, was once heard to say it would happen “when pigs fly.”
Engskov passed away earlier this year and didn’t get to see the day those pigs flew, but her comment has been enshrined on a library bookmark and was often mentioned among the crowd that attended the Friends of the Library Sneak Peek on August 6 and the August 7 door opening.
Because of COVID closures and delays and the ensuing price increases for just about everything, the project ran well over its anticipated cost. But the fact that it stands today as planned speaks volumes about a community where human interests lie in creating and enhancing benefits and opportunities for the people who live in it.
The initial impact on entering the new building is one of calmness and space – and a little awe. Room for everything is included. In addition to the book stacks there are separate rooms for community meetings and presentations, staff conferences, private study spaces, a young adult area, and a very large, fully enclosed space for children. There are also three computer banks, one each in the child, teen and adult areas, an enclosed staff workroom – and a real office for library director, Julie Hall.
The library is open during its regular office hours, and when you stop by to visit, look up – because Carol Ann’s pigs are in the air and this library is flying! It just took a village of determined souls to raise it.