AMBOY – Every once in a while, it’s time for a new haircut, a new shirt, a new look.
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AMBOY – Every once in a while, it’s time for a new haircut, a new shirt, a new look.
When it comes to a building, the barber is replaced with a painter, shirt means a new table, and a new look translates to an upgraded environment.
Over the last month or so, the Pankhurst Memorial Library in Amboy has been renovating and putting in the work to make the library look and feel better.
“The most recent thing we’ve done is we put on a fresh coat of paint on every wall. I don’t know the official name of the color, but I’d call it baby blue. We have new blinds on the outside of our windows and the window seals have been stained,” said Pankhurst director Emily Goff, who has been the director for nine years and has been with the library for the last 20 years. “The three ceiling fans have all been replaced. We have a brand-new table and chairs. We also revamped downstairs, the children’s section, with a new seating area, new paintings and photos to liven up the place.
“It was something we decided needed to be done. The board of directors went with it and we kept adding to our list of things we wanted to do.”
The board has recently added two new board members in Dominique Willahan and Anne Dickison as they join Deb Hopkins, Jillian Rieskamp, Linda Grady, Tony McCoy, Mary Kathrine Stenzel, and Greg Nobel.
Goff, the board, and the approximately 400 Pankhurst patrons are able to enjoy the new-look library all the time and are opening the doors to anyone in Amboy and the surrounding communities for an open house on September 14 (time is TBA).
The event will help celebrate the library’s 95th anniversary and will include a raffle of goods donated by local businesses.
“It’s really nice to have board members who really care about the library,” Goff said. “It makes you feel like you’re doing the right thing. It’s nice to see changes and people being positive about how the library looks.”
At a recent Amboy City Council meeting Amboy Mayor Frank Stenzel had nice words to say about the library’s renovations.
“The library looks great. They’ve put a lot of time and effort into their projects and it’s really paid off,” Stenzel said.
