NAHANT — Volunteers, Friends of the Nahant Public Library, and North Shore residents enjoyed a day of books, food, and informative tours at the library on Saturday.

Volunteer Peg Hinrichs, who has helped organize the annual book sale since its inception in the 1970s, hopes the event inspired people to use the library more.

Treasurer of the Friends of the Nahant Public Library Robin deStefano said that preparations for the book sale involved many hours of volunteer work.

DeStefano said her hopes for the day were “seeing people, welcoming them, and letting them know about the library. We are going after some significant funding for the library, and we want people to know that we’re here, and we’re active, and we support the library, and we will do anything we need to do to improve our library.”

Lynne Spencer, Historical Commission and Historical Society Board member, said the library received an anonymous donation of $2 million dollars contingent on a matching donation of funds. Spencer added that, so far, more than $1 million has been raised through a handful of private donors, and the library is seeking an additional $1 million from the town to match the donation.

As ice cream and pizza arrived on Pleasant Street, youth rollerblading and biking stopped by for the festivities, and curiosity led them to explore some of the books for sale.

Cecile Rouleau, Friends of the Nahant Public Library president, said, “This year, we had a very special volunteer who put in all her marketing and event planning expertise into this — that’s Pat O’Hara.”

O’Hara said they started planning for the book sale at the end of June and that one of the goals of the event was to teach people about programming at the library.

Along Pleasant Street was a number of folding tables featuring well-loved art history books, works of fiction, classics like “East of Eden,” and even some books written by Massachusetts-based authors.

One such book — “A Change in Altitude” by Anita Shreve — was purchased by Nahant resident Rebecca Nichols.

Nichols said she has loved libraries ever since she was young.

“It’s my favorite place to go,” she said.

Nichols attended the book sale with her partner Taryn Provencher, who said the library “does their best to make sure everyone in the community is included and involved.”

Provencher added that, as they parsed through the many boxes of books, they enjoyed meeting fellow community members they hadn’t crossed paths with before.

“I really wanted to support this community event. I love books, and I think the art of having an actual book in your hands is really important. So if I can ever support books and libraries I will be there,” Provencher said. “We’re really lucky to have such a historic, gorgeous, building in town, so I will do anything I can to support keeping it and preserving it.”

Nichols and Provencher also attended one of the four tours of the library. Nichols said the tour gave her a deeper insight into the many moving parts that help a library thrive.

She said that “knowledge is power,” and learning more about the Nahant Public Library increased her desire to help preserve it.

These tours informed curious participants about the historical significance of the library as well as how to preserve it, and why its preservation is important.

Fire Chief Austin Antrim led one of these tours.

Antrim is also a member of the Nahant Community Preservation Committee, where he said “it’s an honor” to apply funds to projects that “preserve and restore and retain the beauty and character that exists in this town.”

Antrim said he is “fully supportive of what the library is trying to do with the funding that they’re seeking.”

A portion of these funds would go toward replacing the out of date fire alarm system, the fire suppression system, the electrical, and the mechanical systems, Antrim said.

He said that if a fire were to occur “the chances of the Nahant Fire Department being able to stop it are pretty slim,” due to the lack of fire suppression in the form of an unobtrusive sprinkler system.

There will be a Special Town Meeting on October 20 to further discuss and vote on whether the town will contribute funding so the library can move forward with its renovations.

The post Nahant celebrates 55th annual Big Book sale appeared first on Itemlive.

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