By Mary Owen
Come eat, drink and be merry – all for a good cause!
The Stayton Public Library Foundation will host an after-hours evening of beer, wine and food sampling to raise funds for the library’s youth services, including the Outreach Storyteller program.
Brews, Bites & Books will be held Friday, Oct. 9, 7-9 p.m. at the Stayton Public Library. Tickets are $15 per person and include three beer/wine samples, appetizers and non-alcoholic beverages. Additional beer/wine samples and glasses will be available for purchase at $1 per sample or $5 per glass.
Leon Cotter, a Portland musician, and friends will provide music. All attendees must be 21 or older.
“We are thrilled to be bringing this fundraising night back,” said Brenda Moore, the foundation’s development director. “What a great opportunity for people to visit the library after hours and become familiar with the space and services.”
Coordinator Judy Brown said the event grew out of an idea to host a wine-tasting to thank the Foundation’s Crown Jewel Society members.
“Enthusiasm was a little lukewarm so I suggested instead that we focus on craft beer tasting with bites to accompany,” Brown said. “We added wine for those who don’t drink beer and live music, and the event was a success and a lot of fun.”
At this month’s Brews, Bites & Books, Roth’s will be pouring craft beer from 3 Creek Brewer in Sisters, Breakside in Portland, and Hop Valley in Eugene and wines from Firesteed in Rickreall and Primaries in Dundee.
Food “bites” will be provided by Ugo’s Pizza, Fresh To You, Moxieberry, Covered Bridge Café and Trexler Farm Café.
“We are still working on adding vendors,” Brown said. “We will also have several raffle baskets available with a variety of contents.”
Brown said the foundation hopes to have up to 200 people show up for “another fun night with people who love their library!”
“We would like to raise as much money as we can to support library services,” he said. “Our outreach storyteller reaches over 500 children in daycare, preschool, kindergarten and low-income housing units every month!”
Other in-library programs include Storytime and Movement Mondays for children, Brown said.
“The foundation is committed to ensuring that these programs can continue,” he said. “They are part of what makes our library so wonderful.”
Moore knows first-hand how much children benefit, she said.
“I have a 4-year-old that Miss Lisa reads to each month,” she said. “She absolutely enjoys the visits, and it has sparked her interest in visiting the library. Her enthusiasm for reading gets the whole family involved.”
Additionally, the foundation would like to sign up more residents as Crown Jewel Society members.
“These wonderful people help ensure that we are able to not only raise money for our youth programs, but that we are also able to put money in trust so that one day the library can become self-sustaining,” Brown said.
“This event has been a lot of fun for us and introduces people who many not have been inside our beautiful library to all it has to offer, so it would be very nice if we could make it a yearly event. Get your tickets early!”
Tickets are sold at www.staytonlibraryfoundation.org.
