The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

The Friends of the Harlem Library group hosted a wine and cheese festival last week. Actually, it was more than just wine and cheese with two "groaning" tables of holiday goodies and treats to go along with multiple opportunities to taste, and bid on, some interesting wines. The wines were donated by Sagebrush Flats Winery and the goodies were courtesy of Friends members.

It was a fun evening, but there was a serious purpose. Nellie Obrecht, a co-chair of the Friends, explained the Friends group was in a multi-year fundraising effort to buy new shelving for the library. Obrecht said, "We need new shelving that better meets the needs of patrons and staff. The proposed shelving is mobile, meaning it can be reconfigured as needed, and will be lower in height to provide the staff with a better view of the stacks. The new shelving will assure a safer environment for patrons and staff." The shelving, plus installation, will require about $20,000 to be raised.

The Friends don't limit themselves to only one fundraising event per year. During the summer they host an old fashioned pie and ice cream social, a basket auction in the spring time and some Harlem High teachers prepare and sell a local favorite, "Wildcat Burgers," during community gatherings. Obrecht said, "Our community shows great passion in their support of our library. We appreciate that support."

The wine and cheese event

Attendance to the wine and cheese festival was by ticket only, and only 50 tickets were available for pre-sale. Per Library Director Colleen Brommer, the last ticket was Friends and library staff had made some extraordinary efforts to decorate and prepare for the fundraiser. Library staff, getting a decorating idea on Pinterest, an online website for crafters, had created a Christmas tree out of currently available library books. Assistant Librarian Carly Haluszka explained, "Since we were using current books, we had to do a bit of research and make sure we didn't include any popular books. Having to dismantle the tree to find a requested book would have been a problem." She estimated the four foot tall tree, with lights, required about 75 books.

Two areas were set, courtesy of the good folks with Sagebrush Flats Winery, for wine tasting, complete with a couple of bowls of "palate cleansing snacks."

Two local teachers minded the red wines and a volunteer was pouring the white wines. After tasting guests could wander along a rather large display of bottled wine and make their silent bids. Several guests would suddenly bolt from a group they were visiting, exclaiming, "I have to go check my bids to be sure I'm still the top bidder!"

Walking among the shelves of wines for bidding, several early evening bids were already hovering around the $100 mark. It appeared the fundraiser would be quite successful.

Steve Edwards

Friends of the Harlem Library member Karolee Cronk poses beside a "vegetable Christmas tree" she created as a centerpiece for a snack table.

Back in the library lounge area, the tables of goodies required constant monitoring and refilling by volunteers. A 'vegetable Christmas tree' was the center piece of one table-very cleverly done and guests were welcome to pick vegetables off the tree for snacks.

In the meeting room guests could take a break, sit at a table and enjoy their holiday goodies and do some visiting. Each table had a wine bottle, with several coats of white paint, with decorations in and around the painted bottles. The tables were quite festive, covered with red table cloths the Friends had laid out.

The "Journal" salutes the Friends of the Harlem Library for their efforts and hard work to support the community library. Hopefully the new shelving will soon be a reality. The Friends already have several other projects they would like to see happen at their library. They seem to come up with continued ways to improve an already great facility.