Elma Timberland Library to celebrate 10 years in current building

The Elma Timberland Library will have a public celebration from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 5 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Elma’s library building. Fiddlers Vivian and Phillip Williams will strum tunes from the Oregon Trail and the Lewis and Clark eras after a brief ceremony and an announcement of a memorial gift from the Friends of the Elma Timberland Library. Refreshments will be served after the performance. The festivities are being hosted by the Friends group. The library is located at 118 N First Street, Elma. The telephone number for more information is (360) 482-3737.

The Friends of the Elma Timberland Library have commissioned artist Cathy Rusley Smith to create a three by five-foot stained glass window for the library’s adult reading area. “It will be a permanent installation within the existing window frame, keeping the exterior glass in place as weather protection,” said Elma Community Librarian, Laura Young. The artwork will be described during the ceremony. Rusley Smith created a stained glass window for the Hoquiam Timberland Library in 1989.

A three by four-foot quilt by Donna Simms, Public Services Associate at the Elma Timberland Library, will be presented during Saturday’s celebration. The quilt depicts Elma’s civic buildings.

The library opened in June 1994. In September 1992, Elma residents approved a $650,000 bond issue for a new library. The bond, along with a $74,300 grant from Timberland Regional Library through its partnership program, $27,000 in grants from several foundations, and $33,000 from additional community fundraising efforts, financed the new 6,000 square foot library. “The library would still be crowded into a corner of City Hall without the work of Elma’s Friends of the Library, the city crew, former librarian Jerri Ferrier, and dozens of other community groups and individuals,” said Young.

Media Contacts: Leanne Ingle, Communications Specialist, toll-free: 1-877-284-6237, ext. 2508 or Laura Young, Elma Community Librarian, (360) 482-3737.