Co-chairing the party are PNC’s vice president of community relations Michelle Kaye and Rodney Veal, host of ThinkTV’s “The Art Show.” Kaye says this is going to be the don’t-miss event of the year.
“It’s going to be an energy-filled event and will demonstrate that this is not your father’s library,” she says. “It’s only happening once, so if you miss it, it’s gone! You don’t want to be that person that wakes up on April 23, sees all of the fabulous photos on Facebook, and you weren’t at the party.”
Kaye says her company is proud to support the event. "When I was growing up, it was always a treat to go to the library and get books for the week," says Kaye, who says she has always been an avid reader. "This new downtown library is going to be a focal point of our downtown. It is a true community asset, and will serve as a gathering space for many."
The state-of-the-art facility boasts four times the public space of the previous library. The architecture was influenced by the original 1888 Library’s location near the canal. The bend in the Library’s atrium is an architectural nod to the canal that ran along what is now Patterson Boulevard.
READ NOW: Learn more about Dayton’s old downtown canal.
Dayton’s rivers and the old canal are a source of architectural inspiration that can be seen in the bridges that span the grand staircase and in the bridge leading into the Children’s Area. At 10,000 square feet, the kid space is about the size of many of the former branch libraries before their recent expansions and renovations.
The two lower levels of the old building are now an underground parking garage.
What’s in store
In addition to live entertainment, the evening includes chef-created cuisine, full open bars, a live auction of art and literary packages and complementary valet parking. Party-goers can take to the floor for salsa or swing dancing and get involved with creative projects.
The entertainment is designed to draw patrons into many of the spaces in the new library. As party-goers tour the three floors, they’ll encounter performances ranging from dance and improvisational theater to silk aerialists and Latin music.
Featured performers include The Bob Gray Orchestra; pianist Steffin Johnson; Latin music ensemble Son Del Caribe; The Keigo Hirakawa Trio with JD Allen; guitarist BJSR; Jackson Riffe on marimba; DJ Basim; Femme Fatale Silk Aerialists and Dancers; poets Sierra Leone, Tripp Fontane, Naki Akrobettoe and Nathan Tipton; vocalist Destiny Donelson and ballet dancer Alexis Britford; Tiffany Clark and Christopher “Etch” of The Mural Machine; improvisational artist Justin Howard; Dayton Contemporary Dance Company; Soul Fire Tribe and Zoot Theatre Company.
RELATED: Plans move forward for new library branch in Belmont.
Thanks to the folks from WYSO Public Radio’s “Community Voices” project, guests at “The Main Event” will be invited to share treasured library memories and stories that will be recorded and preserved. In the Green Screen Room, local personality Jim Bucher will have guests exploring their inner actors.
Activities, food and more
You’ll also get a chance to engage in some creative activities. “Dayton Metro Library has several Maker Kits containing all the tools and materials needed to experiment and create in many different subject areas,” explains Chuck Duritsch, the library’s external relations manager. “Our Photography Maker Kit, for example, will be set up so you can be recorded in front of a Green Screen and then chose a background afterwards. Our Circuits Maker Kit allows you to design your own battery-charged conductive design. And our 3-D Printers and Button Making equipment will also be available.”
Cooking for the crowd will be chefs Jenn Disanto of SageCraft Catering & Events; Matthew Hayden of Scratch Events; Anthony Head of the Ponitz Career Technology Center; Anne Kearney of Rue Dumaine and Maria Walusis of Nibbles Restaurant in Miamisburg.
Party patrons will also get the first look at the locally commissioned art on display throughout the building and meet the artists. Thanks to an anonymous gift, The ReImagining Works, in collaboration with The Dayton Art Institute, invited artists to "re-imagine" pieces from the DAI's permanent collection, using them as inspiration for new artwork that is unique to each Library and its community.
Showcased in the library’s main atrium is “Fractal Rain” by Terry Welker of Kettering. It’s a huge, kinetic sculpture fashioned from stainless steel wire and acrylic prisms. Other artists represented include Susan Byrnes of Cincinnati, Gretchen Durst Jacobs of Dayton, Katherine Kadish of Yellow Springs, Andrea Myers of Columbus and Paula Wilmot Kraus of Dayton.
Dreaming up a party
Diane Farrell, director of external relations and development, says when the Dayton Metro Library Foundation formally organized in the fall of 2014, members began evaluating the potential for impact and focus areas.
“We knew we had unique opportunities to generate awareness and funding with the opening of the Main Library downtown,” she says, explaining that foundation directors developed a major giving society, “The 1888 Society,” named in honor of the first library opening in Cooper Park in 1888.
RELATED: Recent developments in $187 million library overhaul.
“But, we knew, to really debut our new $64 million public space, we had to throw one memorable party,” says Farrell. To accomplish that task, the directors and staff created a subcommittee dubbed Team 17. That team began by studying all of the formal fund raising events in the Miami Valley and noting what made each special. Their idea was to combine all of those elements into “one magical night.”
“The committee has worked for nearly two years to create an event theme, performance flow and logistical design to commemorate the opening of the new Main Library,” says Farrell. “‘The Main Event’ will touch all the senses and leave a lasting impression.”
Libraries are changing today
Farrell says the important role libraries play is undeniable, addressing everything from early childhood literacy, kindergarten readiness and third grade reading to out-of-school enrichment, and workforce development.
“Libraries are no longer simply quiet places to consume information although that aspect certainly still exists,” Farrell says. “They are dynamic spaces where people come together to create content, share and exchange ideas, and address contemporary societal issues. Libraries are community centers, hubs of connectivity, meeting the basic human need for trusted information, but also encouraging individual expression and collective action.”
WHERE IS WORK BEING DONE? Interactive map of which libraries have been renovated.
Farrell says she's inspired each day by the people who use library facilities.
“I see our collective potential as unlimited,” she says. “Libraries are happy places, filled with the tools and resources people need to formulate ideas, and guided by kind, caring, compassionate staff who strive each day to help others achieve their goals — whether personal or professional.”
She envisions the library as a place where people of all ages and races can come together to discover new things about the world, themselves, and each other. “We’re just getting started,” Farrell concludes. “With our new facilities, there is nothing we can’t accomplish with, and for, our community.”
HOW TO GO:
What: "The Main Event," a preview celebration and sneak peek for the new downtown Dayton Metro Library
When: 7-11:30 p.m. , Saturday, April 22
Where: Dayton Metro Library,
Dress: Cocktail attire. Black-tie optional.
Tickets: $150 per person includes valet parking, open bars, hors d'oeuvres and arts performances. On sale at DaytonMetroLibrary.org/TheMainEvent.
For more information, call (937) 496-8516. All proceeds benefit The Dayton Metro Library Foundation.
ALSO: The "Be Our Guest" sponsorship invites businesses, organizations and individuals who make a contribution of $1750 to receive four tickets to "The Main Event" and allows four others to attend as well with those additional tickets to be given to active military, library volunteers or community partners. Be Our Guest Plus contributors of $2500 receive 10 tickets to keep, and four will be donated.
COMING IN JUNE: A free community open house is slated for noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 17.
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