MIDALE - The Midale Public Library celebrated its grand opening in its new space on May 15. The library is now located at 203 Main Street.
The day of the grand opening offered a come-and-go event with a ribbon cutting, cake and speeches.
"We had an amazing response from our community who showed up to support us," said branch librarian Jeri-Lee Jones. "It was just amazing to have our local council come and celebrate us, our local community members, our board and just so many of our library patrons. At one point, we packed our library with all the littles who came, and it was overwhelming to see how many people can now fit in our new library."
She noted the move was indeed beneficial for the library and the community.
"The library relocating to a new space has allowed us to have a larger library. We have a grass space for programming as well as access to a kitchen now, which is phenomenal. Our location is now on Main Street, which is great for people who are coming by. We are no longer out of the way, so people can just drive by, see the library, know we're here and open, and just stop in. And it's been a tremendous response from the community," Jones said.
The move allowed the library to offer more programs to the community. Jones said they now offer activities outside as well as some cooking-related programming on top of the previous programs, and just regular services provided by the library. And the community has been appreciating the facility.
"On the days that we don't have programming, we tend to have more people just come and hang out. Our new location is much larger than the other location, which has allowed us to get furniture, some armchairs and couches, and a nice play space for the children. So, families just come by and hang out and read together. It's just been amazing to see people here in our community utilizing the library as the living room of our community," Jones said.
The relocation process started last year and came to a happy conclusion earlier this spring.
"We started conversations back in July; the actual building came into possession of the town January 1. And once the minor renovations were done, we were given the green light to move. So in March, we decided to carry through and get the move done. We opened up here on April 4, and as of this week, May 15, we had our grand reopening," Jones said.
The hours of operation remain the same. For the library's latest news and updates, follow the Midale Public Library page on Facebook.
