Previously Posted in the Friend Memorial Library Weekly Newsletter Available Here

Whenever I visit the Blue Hill town park, I look for my husband’s brick. It’s always there among the personalized bricks in the big circle near the playground. Kids of all ages enjoy scouting around for familiar names, and I especially like the bricks’ variety and creativity. As the plans for our expansion evolved and it became clear that having safe handicapped access would require raising the level of our Circle of Friends Garden,  I hatched a plan to bring a similar community project to Brooklin. I found a vendor, and we will be “selling” bricks through the rest of the year starting on Saturday at our Garden Party. (We hope you can join us!)

The naming rights for a brick will go for $35.00. You can sponsor a brick for a community member, or gift a brick as an enduring present.  In addition to securing one to sport your own name, you might celebrate a milestone or memorialize a beloved pet. You can design a brick to tell a story. My editor Julie Selberg mentioned that she’ll be buying a brick for her mom. Julie explains:

“My mom cherished Brooklin. It was her heart’s home. She had deep appreciation for libraries and their promise of tidy access to a world of information. She also loved and created music, and she fashioned a monogram for herself that appeared on all her compositions and arrangements. The brick for my mother will have her name, Roxanne Twitchell Sly, and above it her RTS monogram with it’s beguiling evocation of a musical staff.” 

I’m looking forward to hearing more stories like Julie’s about their brick designs, but to be honest, that’s not my favorite part of the brick project. I love that it is a way to have as many community connections called out at the library as possible. To be sure, our project has provided naming opportunities, and we are grateful for those spaces and proud to honor the people included. People like Giffy Full, the Parson family, and Anne & Maynard Bray. Still, I’m so glad that the bricks in the new Circle of Friends Garden will allow anyone in Brooklin to leave their stamp on our project – it’s part of our commitment to building “A Library For Us All.”

-Catherine Nevin, Library Director