Friends of the Berlin Library will host a fundraiser at Sisters in Berlin today, Thursday, to help raise funds for library amenities.

By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(April 19, 2018) “A Novel Affair,” a Friends of the Berlin Library fundraiser, is scheduled today, Thursday, at Sisters in downtown Berlin from 6-9 p.m.

Along with live music by Scott Dustin, finger food, a 50/50 raffle and guest bartenders, Sisters, on 113 North Main Street, will donate 20 percent of sales to support the new Berlin library on Harrison Avenue.

Guest bartenders will include Berlin Councilman Thom Gulyas, Worcester County States Attorney Candidate Kris Heiser, and Berlin Economic and Community Development Director Ivy Wells.

“I am a bookworm and the library is one of my favorite places to go, so I was honored to be asked to be a guest bartender for this event, because I’m always all ‘booked up,’” Wells said. “I’m really excited about it and I will pour everyone’s drinks happily.”

Harriette Creter, Friends of the Berlin Library president, helped organize the fundraiser.

“We’re also going to have library mugs for sale and information about purchasing a brick [for the new library], and also information about membership to ‘Friends,’” she said.

Mugs are $10, bricks are $100 and $150, and membership to Friends of the Berlin Library, a volunteer group that raises money for library facilities and services, is $5.

The $6.25 million Berlin branch of the Worcester County Library, expected to open in July, was built to be long-lasting and energy-efficient, an approach planners say will save taxpayers money in the long run. The new building is four times larger than the current single-story library on North Main Street.

Creter said fundraising proceeds would help pay for additional furniture, computers and supplies for the children’s area in the new library.

“I get excited every time I come down the street to look at [the new library]. I can’t wait to get in the building,” Creter said. “I’m very excited to go into it and I’m excited for the opportunity for the library to be able to have more programs – and to do them comfortably.”

For more information on the event, search “Berlin Library Fundraiser” on Facebook.

For information on Friends of the Berlin Library, visit www.worcesterlibrary.org/index.php/worclibrary/page/friends-of-the-library.