By David W. Keeber |
Sedona Public Library
Sedona, AZ - Wow! On Sunday, the 11th of
November, the Sedona Public Library and the
Friends of the Sedona Library held the Festival
of Wreaths Gala, and what a night it was! This
year was the 9th such event and each successive
year brings more wreaths, greater attendance and
a more wonderful evening produced by the
Festival of Wreaths
committee. This year, they surpassed themselves
in every way.
First of all, this year the number of wreaths
submitted by members of the community totaled
160, including 39 from the third and fourth
grade classes at Big Park School. That is a
significant increase over years past. It is such
a treat to watch the wreaths coming in during
the drop off day. People are so proud of their
offering and there are some really creative and
fun examples of a pretty simple idea – a circle
with some stuff on it! There are pretty ones,
fun one (look for the wreath with the roundabout
theme) and some truly novel ideas. Thank you to
all the individuals and businesses that created
and donated a wreath.
Second, the support the event received from
local restaurateurs and wineries was amazing.
The food was delicious and plentiful and the
wines, examples of local vintners’ skills, were
surprising. No one can say that our local
wineries cannot stand with the best examples of
this timeless art. We enjoyed wines from Echo
Canyon, Javelina Leap, Oak Creek Vineyards and
Southern Wine and Spirits Distributing.
Restaurants that made the evening a success were
Shugrue’s Hillside Grill, Pizza Picazzo,
Heartline Café, Dahl & DiLuca Decadent Catering,
Mulligan’s Grille, Wildflower Bread Company,
Bashas’, Oak Creek Brewery and Grill and Bistro
Bella Terra. If you frequent any of these
establishments, please thank them for their
support of the Sedona Public Library.
We also received support and donations from many
local businesses and individuals in the form of
raffle items. That list is so long as to be
impossible to include here, but next time you
are in the Library, pick up a brochure of that
list and then please frequent their businesses
as a way of saying thank you for helping out the
Library. In fact, many of these businesses and
individuals give extensively to many other
organizations in Sedona and for that support,
the entire community is better off. A very big
thank you to all of them.
Lastly, SanDee Kinnen, chair of the committee
that presented the Gala deserves many thanks for
making the evening such a beautiful and
successful one. Few who do not work on such
projects can imagine what it really takes to
create a successful event such as the Festival
of Wreaths, but if suffice to say that it really
is a year-long endeavor.
In the end, the entire Festival of Wreaths can
be measured a success, both as the Gala evening
and the sale of wreaths to the community. The
funds from the Festival of Wreaths provides the
Friends of the Library the wherewithal to
support the Library, whether to purchase books
and computers, or in any of a number of ways
that organization has helped to make the Library
successful. If you are looking for a great group
to belong to and with which you can apply your
creative skills for a worthwhile group, please
consider joining the Friends of the Library.
They are a great group and can use your help.
Such consistent support of the Library
throughout the years by the community never
ceases to amaze me. This place truly is the
community’s library. Whether it was the original
construction of the building (twice in the
Library’s history) or the volunteers who help
out every day, or the generous support of such
events as the Festival of Wreaths or the book
sales, Sedona loves this Library and helps it to
succeed. Thank you, one and all, for making this
such a great place to be!
On another note, the Library frequently gets
requests for contact information for book
discussion groups. We would like to build a list
of such groups and request that if you have a
book discussion club to please contact the
Library with information about what sorts of
books you like to talk about, how many members
in your group, whether it is open, by invitation
or a closed group, and whom is willing to serve
as a contact person. Then, when people call us
to ask, we have an accurate and up to date list.
Please contact me directly with this
information. Thank you.
Finally, be sure to check out the Veteran’s
History Project display at the Library. As
partners with this national effort, the Sedona
Public Library is gathering memories from
veterans from all wars and sending them on to
the National Archives at the Smithsonian. We are
presenting some memorabilia from local veterans
and the stuff is fascinating. Be sure to stop in
and see it.
Past Library News issues:
Sedona Library Archive
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