90th event puts Woodstock Library back on track

The Woodstock Library Fair rang in its 90th anniversary Saturday with a wide range of activities including live music, a children’s parade, a carousel and a book sale.

Children and grown-ups frolicked around a maypole to a number of tunes on the lawn outside the library before Steve Charney gave a ventriloquist performance that had children and adults alike laughing. After that Tracy Bonham performed while Dr. Neal Smoller and his COVID-Busters made an appearance. Students with the Rock Academy were slated to play a set later in the afternoon.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 caused the cancellation of the Library Fair for the only time in its 90-year history, according to Friends of the Woodstock Library President Michael Hunt.

Hunt related that the Fair began way back in 1931 as a fundraiser for the library’s budget back when there was no library budget, and that such fundraisers helped keep the library’s door open. “That year they sold used clothing and books,” he said.

The Woodstock Library first opened back in 1913. While the town was already on the map as a haven for the arts thanks to its dedicated colonies like Byrdcliffe and the Maverick, its inhabitants’ worlds were smaller and many people spent much of their lives in their own hamlets, rarely venturing into the center of town, let alone bigger places like Kingston or New York City, Hunt said.

But that changed when it came time for the library fair, Hunt said.

“Everyone came together at the library on the fourth week of July,” he said.

Even today, when the institution can count on funding from a taxpayer-approved budget, this event is still the Woodstock Library’s single biggest fundraiser supplementing a number of Book Barn sales including the largest held during the fair, according to Hunt.

He said that before the pandemic the library would see anywhere between 1,500-3,000 people over the course of a day for a library fare, but he wasn’t sure how many would show up this year with event scaled back to just the library lawn, after an adjacent field was sold and with fewer food vendors. The pandemic also resulted in them not being able to hold as many Book Barn sales over the last year.

All the decisions for the return of the Library Fair were made with extensive input from the community, he said.

While in years past local restaurants and businesses would donate gift cards for the event, Hunt said, the library turned the table and purchased one $100 gift card after another as prizes to help support local businesses last year during the pandemic.

Several people in attendance said they came to show support for the institution. Kelly Stevens of Woodstock brought her kids to the event for the first time. “We came to check out things and support the library,” she said.

Patrick Allen, of Shokan, also came out to support the library that, he said, his family loves to visit. “Usually we come here and check out a pile of books each week,” he said.

And he was happy with the weather with sunny skies and temperatures forecasted to top out around 80 degrees. “You couldn’t ask for a better weekend,” he said.

Jasmin Norwood, of Red Hook, came with her daughter Hallie, 3. She said her mom lives near Woodstock and she always comes out to check out the library whenever she’s on this side of the river. And she was also happy just to have something to do with her daughter after a year of lockdown.

“It’s great to be able to do something outside together,” she said after they watched the Charney’s performance.