Open House Celebrates 75 Years of Fontana Regional Library

PRESS RELEASE
FONTANA REGIONAL LIBRARY
OCTOBER 22, 2019

Fontana Regional Library is celebrating 75 years of service this year, and the Friends of the Macon County Public Library are hosting an Open House at the library on Friday, November 1 from 4:00-6:00 to mark the occasion. Light refreshments will be served, several local authors will present their newest works, and new art will be on display.

1944 was a busy year for readers. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith topped the bestseller fiction list, closely followed by Kathleen Winsor’s Forever Amber. Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes won the Newbery Medal. The Growth of American Thought by Merle Curti was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in the History category. Agatha Christie and Dale Carnegie were actively publishing. Curious George and Nancy Drew captured the hearts of many readers.

1944 was an especially busy year for readers in Macon, Jackson, and Swain Counties because Fontana Regional Library was formed, bringing bookmobile service to many residents throughout these counties. Although public library buildings had been established for some time in Franklin, Highlands, Sylva, and Bryson City, the library got wheels in 1944.

Fast forward to 2019 when readers have numerous ways to get their books from the library. There are regular print books, large print books, audiobooks, and e-books. If your local library doesn’t have the books you’re looking for, you can borrow them from around the state and have them delivered to you at your local library. You can get movies, often adapted from books, to watch at home in a variety of formats. You can visit with local authors and hear how they wrote their books. And Fontana Regional Library still has a bookmobile, the Reading Rover, that visits childcare centers to bring books, music, puppets, and more to preschool children.

And books are only part of the service your library provides. You can check out a telescope, a crochet kit, or a backpack. Your library provides access to the Internet, can help you with online job applications, assist you in learning about new technologies like 3D printing and robotics, and even help you convert those old VHS tapes to DVD!

The November 1st Open House will feature a selection of local authors who have recently published new work. Clare Suminski, Tyler Cook, Matthew Baker, Narelle Kirkland, Roy and Nita Owenby, Jeannie Chambers, Robert Shook, Marcia Barnes, and Tom Baker are among the authors who will share their stories with you.

A new art exhibit by Nancy Barnard will be on display just in time for the Open House. Nancy Barnard’s oil on canvas art will be on display in the Meeting Room. As a child she sketched with paper & pencil, but didn’t start painting until about six years ago. She was inspired by her sister who had been painting for a while and so she thought she’d try it, found it was fun, and there you are! Now Nancy paints anything that takes her fancy–scenery, horses, portraits–and she will paint children’s portraits based on a photograph.

Please join the Friends of the Library at the Macon County Public Library in celebrating 75 years of library service. Refreshments, exhibits, MakerTool demonstrations, and a wonderful opportunity to meet some the area’s most recently published authors will highlight this free event. Everyone is welcome to attend.

For more information, please call the Macon County Public Library at 828-524-3600.