by Dana Johnston

August 11, 2003 was a night of celebration in a small town with big ideas.

One hundred and one years ago, Andrew Carnegie's Foundation saw fit to provide this little village in the middle of New York state with $10,000 to build an edifice suitable to house its ambitious library. Canastota met the Foundation's requirement that it raise an additional $1,000 per year for the library. Construction was undertaken and quickly completed, and the happy result was a banana colored brick structure, designed by Syracuse architect Archimides Russell. The library building was nothing if not solid. Furthermore, it was at the same time a tribute to classic Greek and Roman architecture, -- geometric and symmetrical,complete with protruding brick columns and twin garlands adorning each side of the building's front entrance-- and simultaneously a harbinger of the Art Deco movement which would arrive "officially" two decades later. The building connected the past with the future, which, if one thinks about it, is what libraries are all about.

In the century that this building has stood its ground, just a stone's throw from where the Erie Canal, the lifeblood of Canastota, cut through the center of town, there have been two world wars, numerous other armed conflicts, a cold war and a "gender revolution" that began with women gaining the right to vote seventeen years after the library opened its doors. The first Ford Model T cars went into production when this building was the age of a kindergarten child. The library was a witness to the development of talking movies, radio, telephone usage, television broadcasting, cable and fiber optics, wireless telephones, and the internet. In truth, the information age for this building has been one century.

A gala bash was held to celebrate all this library represents to Canastoga, and a couple of hundred of Canastoga's 5,000 citizens were present to partake of cake, ice cream, cookies, candy, non-alcoholic libation, the musical stylings of a female Barber Shop Quartet called Harmony Time, a cakewalk, and a live narration of an illustrated history of the library by its Director, Liz Metzger.

"I grew up in Canastota during the nineteen fifties and sixties. We didn't have a school library, so we'd take a short bus ride from our school to the library, and it was always a special occasion for me. I'd come after school, and during the summers, also, because the library was a place where I could find all my answers," says Lorraine Arsenault, President of the Library's Board of Trustees. "Whatever a small town might not offer you in terms of a life experience, the books did."

The library continues to provide that kind of experience to Canastota's children. The 100th Birthday Party was kicked off by the presentation of awards to approximately 50 children who had completed the six week summer reading achievement program at the library. Most of the children had read at least a book a week, and many had read more. Each child who completed the program received a t shirt and an age appropriate book.

"We had ongoing activites for the children during the summer," comments Liz Metzger. "We had a puppet show one week, a Bubble Man another week, a Balloon Man another week, and a Harry Potter Birthday Party."

The library's role as a focal point for the community is not limited to the children. When Natalie Gustafson, now the VP/Treasurer of the Library's Board of Trustees, moved to Canastota from Massachussetts during the mid-70's, the library offered her a comforting welcome, and a way to meet and interact with long time residents of the town.

Recently Michael Czarnecki, a poet from Kanona, NY, facilitated a series of seven memoir writing workshops at the Canastota Public Library. Some of the works written in the workshops were printed in a small, softcover book, which was neatly bound with string and offered for sale at the Library's birthday party.

Also available for purchase at the Centennial were special commemorative posters and t-shirts with a cheery depiction of the Canastota Public Library, created by Amy Bartell, of Syracuse, NY.

Many of the more than two dozen people who regularly volunteer at the library joined the Board of Trustees, and library staff in hosting the festivities. When some of the volunteers were asked why they contribute their time and effort to the library, they all alluded to the meaning the library had held in their own lives, and a need to express their gratitude, and "give back" to the community. Most said they wanted to ensure that others would in the future be able to avail themselves of the library's many offerings.

Nearly 300 people attended the opening ceremony of the new library in 1903. That so many of its friends turned out on a rainy August night to celebrate its 100th birthday is testament to the impact the library has made on the lives of generation after generation of Canastota's people, who are clearly ready to see it through the next 100 years.