Wilton library celebrates 100th birthday with fall festival

WILTON – Families crowded into the Wilton Free Public Library to help celebrate this community center’s centennial year by having lots of fun.

The 100th birthday party featured historical displays, the Merry Plinksters Ukelele Band, games, crafts and a big cake, of course.

The birthday celebration was combined with the library’s annual fall festival to include fresh pressed cider made with Tom Saviello’s apples, and traditional crafts that included two very fluffy rabbits offering up their fur for a spinning wheel’s yarn demonstration.

According to the library’s website, the Wilton Free Public Library Association was incorporated in 1901. The Goodspeed Memorial Library building, named for the family who gave it to the town in 1915, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

The building was designed by the Lewiston architect Harry S. Coombs and was constructed by the B.F. Dunning Company of Massachusetts at a cost of $10,000. The Children’s Room was moved to the basement in the 1950s. In 2008, a handicapped access/renovation project was started which replaced the roof, added an elevator and handicapped-access bathroom, provided handicapped parking, added a mezzanine floor in the main reading room, and expanded the footprint of the building by 20 percent.

Saviello said the library is “the center of downtown” because it offers many programs and free internet use to the public.

“People come here to use the library. It’s so important,” Saviello said.

Library assistant Lynne Hunter said the 100th birthday event has been a part of a year-long celebration to acknowledge the library’s presence in town. The Blueberry Festival in August took on the theme of reading, with exhibits held at the library.

Artifacts on display include hand written records of books coming in and checked out. The first book, Maine State Year Book, was donated by Hamilton E. Potter.