After nearly a decade of planning and hard work, Jefferson County Public Library opened its doors in the heart of Olde Town Arvada on Sept. 16. The $9.9 million state-of-the-art library held its grand opening outside of the new library under a 40 ft. x 80 ft. tent that covered much of 57th Avenue between Webster Street and Olde Wadsworth Boulevard. Meanwhile, inside nearly 2,000 people toured the library and began using its services.
ArvadaWestHigh School graduate and 9News TV anchor Kim Christiansen started off the grand opening festivities, with fellow speakers Jefferson County Librarian Bill Knott, Jefferson County Public Library Board of Trustees Chairwoman Ruth Anna, Arvada Mayor Pro Tem Aaron Azari and Arvada Urban Renewal Authority Commissioner David Kribs.
After brief remarks were made, Christiansen welcomed 15 young children dressed as pirates to the stage where they opened a treasure chest releasing balloons and containing treasure - a book bag with new books for each of the kids. The pirates then followed Christiansen to the front doors of the library where a bookmark was pulled from the door handles to herald the official opening of "A New Treasure in OldeTown." Minutes later, thousands of eager community residents and library patrons headed into their new Arvada Library.
Library patrons and area residents were treated to a full day of entertainment, including live music by Loose Cannon, performances by local school choirs, clowns, balloon magic and face painting. Miles, the Denver Broncos mascot, also made an appearance acting out a children's book and signing autographs, while the Jumping Eagles - a precision jump rope team from Littleton - stole the show, receiving an uproar of applause following their performance. The younger set enjoyed celebrity storytimes by 9News weatherman Marty Coniglio, former Nuggets Mark Randall and Walter Davis, Arvada Councilman John Malito, author Deb Lemon, aka "the Octopus Lady," and a character from "James and the Giant Peach," the upcoming performance at the ArvadaCenter for the Arts and Humanities. These readers broke in the new storytime room, the first dedicated storytime space in any of the Jefferson County Public Libraries.
Refreshments and food, from OldeTownbusinesses, completed this fun-filled day. To the surprise of many, a free lunch was indeed possible on this day in Olde Town Arvada.
"After many years of planning, we're pleased to have opened our newest library in OldeTown, offering enhanced library services in the south Arvada area," said Knott. "The grand opening festivities offered something for everyone, regardless of age. It was a great opportunity to discover what the new library has to offer."
The new Arvada Library is located at 7525 West 57 th Avenue at Webster Street in Olde Town Arvada. With the increase in size, the new library hosts an impressive collection of books, CDs, DVDs and audio books. It has two six-person study rooms, a quiet reading room, a community meeting room for up to 55, special kids and teen areas, an Internet café, twice as many computers as the former Arvada Library, and free wireless Internet access. The library also has self-checkout, drive-up and walk-up book drops and a concierge desk where patrons will find quick answers to their questions.
"The new library was designed with our different patrons' needs in mind," noted Arvada Library Manager Larry Domingues. "Children, teens, adults - everyone has a place in the library that can meet their individual needs."
Please visit the library's Web site at http://jefferson.lib.co.us/NewArvada/ for more details on the new Arvada Library.