Tillamook library celebrates 20 years with birthday bash
Library Director Don Allgeier
Story and photo by Jordan Wolfe
For the TODAY
Tillamook’s main library branch is leaving its teen years behind as the building celebrates its 20th anniversary — and everyone is invited to the birthday bash.
The celebration will include a concert, a Mexican ballet and, very importantly, cake, all served up at Tillamook County Library’s main branch in downtown Tillamook this Saturday, Nov. 14.
“The reason to come is, it's just going to be a fun day,” said Library Director Don Allgeier. “There are going to be a lot of different programs going on and different opportunities to explore. There's going to be cake, which, of course, is always a good reason to go anywhere.”
Kicking off the party at 10 am is a story time aimed at kids aged two to eight, with stories focusing on birthdays and celebrations. At 11 am, members of the Blaser Family Dairy will host a program discussing their heritage and connection to Tillamook for Swiss Heritage Month. At noon, the library will transform into a concert venue when the band Mercury Coast performs. A 20th Birthday Celebration program is slated for 1 pm and will feature various speakers — and is when the complimentary cake will be provided.
“We’re just trying to think about those people who have invested their time and energy into this building, into this library system, and have it be a celebration of them as well,” Allgeier said.
The grand finale of the party will be a performance by Portland-based Mexican Ballet Papalotl at 2 pm.
“The Mexican ballet will be a lot of fun and just kind of invigorating,” Allgeier said. “We've been trying to identify more culturally appropriate performers, especially around serving Spanish speakers in the area.”
The bulk of the scheduled celebration will take place in the library’s two spacious meeting rooms on the first floor: the Copeland Room and the Hatfield Room. Events will rotate between the two, until the rooms are connected for the Mercury Coast concert and the following events.
Other activities throughout the library include checking out displays of the building's history, button-making in the second-floor teen area. Garibaldi-based Fornax Pizza will be selling food in the parking lot next to the connected Maxwell Library Park.
The 20th birthday will also be the launch of a new digital exhibition space in partnership with Tillamook Pioneer Museum — and guests will have a special opportunity to contribute by recording their oral history.
“They can talk about their relationship to this building or the library in Tillamook over time,” Allgeier said.
In one of the private study rooms on the second floor of the building, guests will have the opportunity to record with guidance and assistance from members of the Tillamook County Historical Society.
“This building represents a huge investment by this community in the library system. The building was taxpayer-funded and had to be approved by Tillamook County voters,” said Allgeier, adding that while it created an updated library building in downtown Tillamook 20 years ago — at 30,000 square feet — it also increased the capacities of the entire library system. The building is able to house the Bookmobile, provide outreach services such as moving books between the different branches and increase the materials available.
“It also signals the importance of reading to our kids,” Allgeier said. “It signals the importance of community to people who are coming in and using the spaces that we have.”
The journey to build the current main library was a long one, started during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. Tillamook’s oldest continuing social club, the Shakespeare Club, started the library in 1907 and it was originally housed in the council chambers of city hall. The library changed locations multiple times until 1963, when it spent nearly 40 years in what was once the Haupert Motor Company building in Downtown Tillamook. Once the condition of the building diminished, voters passed a $3.7 million countywide bond in 2003. The current headquarters were completed in September 2006.
“It’s a big deal,” Allgeier said. “I think we need significant infrastructure that helps us as a community, to serve ourselves and to make sure that we are providing pathways for the future. And to me, that's what this is — a space that we have put funds into to be able to preserve over time the materials and the opportunities for the future of our community.”
Saturday’s celebration is from 10 am to 5 pm at the Tillamook County Library main branch, located 1716 Third Street, Tillamook. For more information, go to tillabook.org or call 503-842-4792.