Carbon County Library System Board Chair Joyce Menke celebrates after cutting the ribbon at the new Elk Mountain Public Library. Looking on is Town Mayor Morgan Irene. Reed Brannon, who headed up fundraising, is in the background.
The Wyoming Library Association’s 2017 Hero/Heroine Award was given to a group of dedicated Elk Mountain residents who made it possible for the community’s library to move into a new, expanded location. The award was presented at Monday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Elk Mountain Library, a branch of the Carbon County Library System, was about to lose their building. The Town of Elk Mountain, its residents, the Peter Thieriot family, the Double 8 Ranch, the Carol McMurry Library Endowment, and the Walter Scott Foundation, which consists of Suzanne Walter, the Dixon Family, Amy L. Scott, David Scott, and the Parker Family, contributed $232,197.00 to build a new one — bigger and brighter with updated technology and a children’s room. Mayor Morgan Irene assisted with permits and fundraising and local resident Reed Brannon headed up the fundraising committee.
You can read more about the features of the new library on Friday’s blog post.
“If not for the efforts of all of these people we could very well have lost our library,” branch manager Tammy Page wrote in her nomination letter. “Our library has benefited by gaining a great new place that will continue to be an integral part of our little community. So many people pulled together in so many ways. … The results of this will be so huge for our little community. We will have double our current space, as well as a beautiful building for future generations to come and enjoy. Most of all we did not lose our little library and for that I will be forever grateful to all of these wonderful people.”
The Hero/Heroine Award recognizes an outstanding person or group whose hard work has made a difference to a Wyoming library within the last two years. The WLA Awards/Grants Group considers all those who contributed to the project as Heroes and Heroines.
Elk Mountain Library Branch Manager Tammy Page submitted the award nomination.
Local residents enjoying their new library.
A celebration like this deserves cake. Congratulations to the Elk Mountain community!