Years in the making, the new Lakewood Ranch Library opens to the public
Enthusiastic families waited at the Lakewood Ranch Library doors on Saturday, eager to sign up for new library cards, dash around the state-of-the-art facility, and enjoy the opening weekend festivities.
The long-awaited Lakewood Ranch Library opened to the public on Friday, and local families have enjoyed special opening weekend festivities like a free rooftop yoga session and a live calligraffiti art installation by Florida-based artist FNDMNTLS and his friend Swirly Painter. Small crowds huddled around the Tops sewing machine display for demonstrations from company staff in the fully-kitted workshop room and learned to play simple songs on the ukulele with the help of the Aloha Ukulele Club of Lakewood Ranch.
Library Services Manager Tammy Parrott said the grand opening has been a success, and she is excited to see so many residents support the new library.
"We know that we had over 2,000 people visiting yesterday for opening day, and we had about 600 new library card signups in one day alone," Parrot said. "It surpassed even our expectations. We are really feeling the love."
Library staff is now preparing for the long haul, with plans for a slate of youth and adult programs starting this week.
The library will host a "Touch a Truck" event on Wednesday, where community members can see fire trucks up close and interact with members of the East Manatee Fire Rescue team. The library will also host a "Make a Bookmark" crafting session on Thursday.
Next week, the library will host its first "Drop-in Family Storytime" on Jan. 23, catering to families with kids up to 5. Manatee County Commissioner George Kruse, who is running for re-election this year, will use the space on Jan. 24, to host a community town hall.
"We are going to focus on in-house programming and storytimes," Parrot said. "And we really want to listen to what the community is interested in."
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In addition to programming, the library features a kids' library room, a storytime room, a quiet reading room, workshop space, an outdoor recreational space, a drive-thru window, self-checkout kiosks, flexible space, and thousands of brand-new books available for checkout.
Visitors can also make use of equipment on premises, such as sewing and embroidery equipment, a recording room, 3D printers, a scanning machine, and art equipment. Plans are in the works for future workshops to teach adults how to make use of specialized machines.
Residents can visit www.mymanatee.org/departments/manatee_county_public_library_system to learn about more Lakewood Ranch Library events, or events hosted at other Manatee County libraries, and other information like hours of operation and an online catalogue.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Years in the making, the Lakewood Ranch Library opens to the public
