Cheers to the Library! Wine & Cheese fundraiser

Sunday, December 84:00—6:00 PM6 Church Street

Cheers to the the Library Fundraiser

Join friends and neighbors for a warm welcome, live music, and bright conversation in one of Greenwich’s most beautiful historic homes.

• Wine, cheese, and charcuterie from local purveyors
• Live holiday music from Alan & Bonnie Epstein on mandolin & harp
• Silent auction featuring products and experiences from local business

At the home of Elizabeth and Ethan Finkelstein on Church Street

All proceeds from each $50 ticket benefit Greenwich Free Library’s annual fund for programs and materials. RSVP and purchase tickets here.

When? Sunday, Dec 8, 2024, 04:00 PM

Where? 6 Church Street, Greenwich, NY

Baseball-Once Simpler, Still Timeless is a three-part exhibit presented in Greenwich Free Library’s lobby and Community Room. A broad range of ephemera and personal memorabilia is organized within the Library’s glass-enclosed display cases while an extensive galley exhibit of limited edition and original artwork is shown both in the cases and throughout the Community Room.

Baseball-Once Simpler, Still Timeless is curated by Art Brod, a local resident and a lifelong baseball fan, historian and collector. Art has attended every annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony since 1964 and is a member of the President’s Circle at the Hall of Fame and Museum, SABR, and Friends of Doubleday Field.

Art has been assisted in organizing this exhibit by his wife Judith Ellers with many of her original oil portraits of HOF members displayed. More than 60 artworks by other prominent sports artists, including several by an old Cooperstown friend, James Amore, and a movie poster or two are presented.

Baseball-Once Simpler, Still Timeless will be on view at the Greenwich Free Library from September 3 through October 18. All are invited to a closing reception and curator’s talk on Thursday October 17 at 6:00 PM.

The fourth of our 2024 Music at the Library series is planned for Monday September 23rd with local group Northern Borne. Weather permitting, we will return to the gazebo at Mowry Park. Casa Reyes will return with their signature Mexican food offerings, and we will once again be giving away free books to kids.

Pictured is the Ky McClinton Band, who performed on a gorgeous August evening.

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council.

Prizes were won, tacos and ice cream were consumed, and readers of all ages celebrated a great summer at the library last Wednesday. In what has officially become a tradition, community members of all ages came out to the library for the third annual Endless Summer Party.  

Community partners Em’s Art Shack and the Greenwich Youth Center added to the fun with a hands-on pottery activity and school supplies giveaways respectively. Drummer Larry Levine led participants in a drum and percussion circle, and local restaurant Casa Reyes joined in with their food truck. Thanks to the generosity of the Saratoga Springs Ben & Jerry’s, kids got a free scoop. Although summer hasn’t ended, the library’s summer reading program has, so the party was also an opportunity to celebrate the joy we shared as a community reading a cumulative total of 266,362 pages. This beat our 2023 total by a little over 2,000 pages. The library is a whole lot more than the books inside it, but when over 230 people come together to read those books, it warrants a party. 

Greenwich Free Library seeks a high-energy and creative person to coordinate services for patrons aged 12-18 and to support the after-school programming at the library. This is a part-time position (16-20 hours per week). Read the full description here.

Readers of all ages are invited to sign up for our annual summer reading challenge and enter to win prizes!

Here’s How:

Sign up for summer reading here or using the paper sign up form at the circulation desk

Three Ways to Earn Raffle Tickets:

• You will receive a weekly e-mail with a link so you can report your pages read. Each week when you report your pages you will submit your basket choice on the online form to be entered to win
• You can win additional raffle tickets by coming into the library to spin the wheel. You are limited to one spin per day Fill out your raffle tickets with your name and phone number and make sure to write down your basket choice on your ticket. Hand your tickets over to the circulation desk and we will put them in the corresponding jars
• Visit the library to pick up our Summer Reading Road Trip challenge. Complete the library and reading tasks to earn more raffle tickets!

Last year, 203 readers of all ages read 264,545 pages. This year, do you think we can make it to 300K?

Thanks to the Stweart’s Holiday Match Program and to Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council for their support of our 2024 summer reading program.

Donate

The majority of our library’s budget is publicly funded, and we are grateful to the citizens of Greenwich for approving our recent budget proposition. Although this public funding covers many of our operating costs, we rely on grants, and individual and organizational donations for the most essential things we provide to the community: materials and programs.

Between 2022 and 2023 our programming participation numbers ballooned by 227%. Our costs, thankfully, did not go up by quite that percentage (we do a LOT with a little), but the simple fact is that the more we do, the more it costs. For 2024, we’ve made an ambitious goal for ourselves: to raise $25,000 in individual funding. A generous donor has agreed to match this amount, so every dollar that you donate goes twice as far. So, far we have raised $10,240. But if everyone reading this donates $25, we could reach our goal today.

If you’ve already made a contribution, thank you. If you can spare a small donation, thank you. And if you cannot donate at this time, please know that just by showing up and using your library, you are supporting your library. Come see us, borrow a book, and stay for one of our many events!

Chelsie of Earthbeat Music has been hosting a free 8-part beginner’s ukulele program series for senior citizens (age 60+).  The Schuylerville Public Library and Greenwich Free Library are partnering up for this series, so half of the lessons take place in Schuylerville and half in Greenwich, with the final get-together on May 15 taking place at Hudson Crossing Park.

Many local libraries have ukuleles that may be borrowed with a library card!

This project is made possible in part with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council.

Wow! Thanks to all of you who came out for our Bluey Earth Day party in the park! We ran out of books to give away, so if you missed out please come see us at the library – we have a free books cart for you to enjoy plus thousands of books you can borrow! 

It’s time to reflect back on 2023 at the library! By all measures, it was a successful year. Here are some highlights:

• In 2023, 7,740 people attended programs and events sponsored by the library. That’s up 227% over 2022.
• We hosted 403 free programs and events, open to the public
• 36,225 people visited the library in 2023, up 29% over 2022
• Our collection holds 48,881 items, and circulation jumped 13% to 31,865
• eBook and audio borrows through the Libby app increased by 53% in 2023, totaling 5,280 downloads
• 2,847 people enjoyed fresh fruits and vegetables through Farm-2-Library
• Patrons composted 6,917 pounds of food and organic waste through our partnership with Adirondack Worm Farm
• 203 people of all ages read 264,454 pages for our Summer Reading Challenge
• Community members booked free library space for 3,626 people to attend 472 events

Looking forward to the library’s future, we can anticipate more growth for program participation and more community needs to fill. This brings us to our budget, and the May 21, 2024 public vote for the library referendum on the school ballot.

Read the document below for more information on the library referendum, and feel free to contact us at grn-director@sals.edu or stop into the library if you have any questions.

Click here to view the document.