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The Village Library of Wrightstown
began in the early 1960s as a library fully staffed by volunteers in an former one-room school house. The community’s strong
interest in education and neighborhood bonding allowed the library to
continue as the community meeting place based exclusively on volunteer
support for over twenty years. As the demands on time and the size of
the community grew, the library received a grant from the Grundy Foundation
to build a small addition to the one-room schoolhouse so that it could
better serve the increasing community needs.
In the late 1990s, the library
recognized the challenges facing the community and the need to maintain the
pastoral-ness of the Village Library of Wrightstown as a community meeting
place. The Library Board took the ambitious step of increasing its
offerings to the community in the hope that its efforts would be
appreciated, acknowledged and supported. The small library, located
in historic Penns Park, began to offer extensive free adult, children’s,
and community programming, and it has been a success ever since.
The Village Library now hosts
children’s after school programs, preschool story and craft programs,
author lectures, book discussion groups, and state sponsored
programs. The new community programming includes the Village
Renaissance Faire which has grown from 500 to over 8000 attendees in just
five years. The community has also flocked to the free outdoor
“Movies by Moonlight” series which offers family friendly movies during the
summer with the atmosphere of the drive-ins of yesteryear. On a
typical movie night, the scent of fresh machine popped popcorn and cotton
candy fill the air, as families in chairs, blankets, and yes, even pajamas
fill the library courtyard to enjoy movies the library has paid to have
shown publicly.
The library has grown so much that
it now boasts a full-time professional librarian and two part-time staff
assistants. However, the endless needs and services our patrons and
community deserve continue to necessitate the library’s reliance on
businesses and volunteer support. The library has over one hundred
volunteers in different capacities; so, if you, your business, or your
organization would like to be part of our special family and mission, please
let us know. All are welcome.
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