Frazier Park residents prepare for library groundbreaking
| Wednesday, Nov 04 2009 06:21 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Nov 04 2009 06:21 PM
Community excitement about a new public library for Frazier Park is clearly evident.
Original songs, cheerleaders, speeches and even a Chumash Native American blessing will highlight a Saturday groundbreaking ceremony for the new library slated to open in spring 2011.
"It's a wonderful addition to what we have up there," said Kern County Fourth District Supervisor Ray Watson, who represents the area.
Diane Duquette, Kern County director of libraries, said the Frazier Park Library started many years ago in a small house. Then it was a bookmobile and now it is in a 1,300-square-foot building. There are about 15,000 books in the current library.
The new library will be about 10,000 square feet and have the capacity to hold 35,000 books. Duquette said it will have many new resources, including a computer lab, study area, self checkout, plenty of indoor seating and separate areas for children, teens and adults. It will also have access for the disabled and a parking lot.
The new library will be built with money from state library fund grants and with money from Kern County, Watson said. The grant money was first received in 2003. In the years since then, Duquette said, builders had to go over construction documents with architects. The final cost will be about $6.9 million.
Community members look forward to a bigger library.
Frazier Park resident Pati Maez will be part of the performance of two original songs called "The New Library" and "Library Things," and she wrote and will perform in an original play called "The Library Groundbreaking," about a family visiting the new library.
Maez said she and the other women performing the songs and the play used information from Duquette about what the new library will include as a basis for their work.
"We're thrilled that everything is happening," Maez said.
Patric Hedlund, managing editor of The Mountain Enterprise and The Mountain Pioneer in Frazier Park, shared in the excitement.
"Saturday's ceremony will be a showcase of mountain whimsy and talent, all celebrating the long struggle to build an architectural and cultural crown jewel for the mountain communities," she wrote in an e-mail.
Hedlund will read an original speech called "If Librarians Ruled the World: The Short History of a Dangerous Idea" at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Hedlund acknowledged Duquette for her determination and persistence in bringing a new library to Frazier Park.
The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday. It will take place at the future site of the library, 300 Park Drive in Frazier Park.
