Westport Library Association to celebrate America's 250th anniversary

WESTPORT | The Westport Library Association is now in the midst of hosting a series of programs titled "Celebrating the Nation: A Season of Heritage & Hope" now through summer's end. Produced by artists, musicians, and scholars for children and adults, this series will celebrate the experiences of people living in the Champlain Valley in 1776 and America's 250th anniversary. "The Westport Library strives to be a community center, so we try to provide a wide range of events for different kinds of people," said Dan Shoonover, board president of the Westport Library Association Board of Trustees. "This event series is going to be a great time for everyone." Festivities kicked off last month with "Together We Sing: A Celebration in Song," a choral concert featuring the Willsboro Central School District Chorus. The 45-minute program offered a blend of Broadway, historical reflection, and empowering messages that reflected hope, transformation, and the power of children's voices. "The concert was absolutely fantastic, and the kids performed some really good numbers," said Event Coordinator Jennifer Moore. "People are still talking about it today." The next event is a revolutionary art-making workshop for children of all ages, scheduled for May 23 from 10 a.m. to noon, featuring Terry Crowningshield, a retired Boquet Valley Central School (BVCS) visual art teacher and former New York State Teacher of the Year. Materials will be provided, but registration is required. "To be completely honest, sometimes it's hard to find reasons to celebrate when times are difficult, but we wanted to bring joy into the maker space and think about the things we're proud of and what we can do to continue to be good citizens," Moore said. "I think making things is a perfect way to do just that." On June 6 at 10 a.m., Yankee Doodle will be coming to Westport! Well…kind of. Presented by historian Victoria Cole, a former Westport/BVCS graduate, and in collaboration with musicians from the Fort Ti Fife & Drum Corps, students of all ages will be introduced to colonial music making. Continuing with the music theme, on July 22 at 7 p.m., Moore and friends will present "A Mostly American Music Sampler," a special program featuring a sampling of America's revolutionary musical past and present, including a youthful Beethoven clarinet trio and shape note singing, a traditional American musical practice, rooted in the 1800s, that uses specific shapes — triangle, oval, rectangle, and diamond — for notes to aid reading. "Shape note singing is one of the earliest forms of choral music in the country," Moore said. "It's not meant to be rehearsed. It's not even meant to be beautiful. It's purely a social singing experience." To end this series, on Aug. 12 at 7 p.m., there will be a special cider talk by Early American scholar and historian Mark Turodo, who will present an engaging talk on the social, cultural, and political history of this earliest of American beverages. A cider tasting will follow, but it will be for adults only. "I'm confident that the community is going to have a great time," Shoonover said. "And the tasting will be just as fabulous." This series of interactive events was made possible by a $4,000 grant from the Glenn and Carol Pearsall Adirondack Foundation, as well as Moore, who served as one of its driving forces. "Originally, it was just supposed to be a single concert, but now it's become this amazing event series," Moore said. "We're hopeful people will come out, come make something, and come learn something new." Other events are currently in the planning stages as part of an ongoing effort to make the Westport Library a community center. LIBRARY PROPOSITION VOTE For those who wish to support the Westport Library, along with the two other libraries in the BVCS district, Elizabethtown Circulating Library and Wadhams Free Library, they can do so by approving Proposition #5 of the school district budget vote, which is taking place on May 19 from noon to 8 p.m. at the Mountain View Campus in Elizabethtown. If approved, it would increase the library tax by $15,000, which would be shared equally among all three. The current library tax on a property assessed at $100,000 is $5.04. The proposition would increase the library tax on that property by $1.95, bringing the total to $6.99. For more information or updates about the Westport Library Association, visit westportnylibrary.org.

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Westport Library Association to celebrate America's 250th anniversary

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