Friends of the Narragansett Library – Maury Loontjens Library in Narragansett

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The Friends of the Narragansett Library has monthly meetings, announced in the library’s newsletter. New members are always welcome!

The Friends of the Narragansett Library is a non-profit organization. We provide volunteer and financial support to the library by sponsoring programs and promoting library services.

Typical programs and activities include:

Children’s Summer Reading and School Vacation Programs
Halloween Costume Parade
Festival of Lights
Library Week Celebration
Author Discussions
Stone Soup
Jewelry Sale
Annual Book Sale

Upcoming Events

SAVE THE DATE!

Volunteers Needed!

Stone Soup and Food Drive

The annual Stone Soup and Food Drive event will take place on Saturday, January 31st, 2026 from Noon to 2. The event will begin with the reading of Stone Soup by Fire Chief Scott Partington in the Children’s room. Soup will be served starting at noon and will go until 2:00 or until the soup runs out. Soup will be available for sale beginning at 1:30. The event is free with a donation of a non-perishable food or personal hygiene item or monetary gift. All donated items will go to benefit St. Peter’s By-the-Sea food pantry. This will also kick-off the Food Drive for St. Peter’s which will continue throughout the month of February. Please see the flyer here for suggested items for donation.

Many volunteers are needed for this event as we coordinate with over 15 local restaurants and stores who generously donate soup and bread for the event. We especially need volunteers to help set up and to serve the soup. To volunteer, please contact Gina at gcollopy1@gmail.com. There will be a planning session immediately following the January regular meeting.

Next Meeting: January 5, 2026 at 1 PM

We’d like to thank all that came out to our fundraiser on October 15th at Celeste Restaurant. Many friends and family enjoyed laughs, each other’s company and a meal at Celeste – some for the first time. All were so generous in buying chances to win one of three cash prizes ($75, $50 and $25). Even folks who were dining at Celeste without any prior knowledge of the fundraiser, happily bought raffle tickets because it was such a great cause. Let’s not forget our friends at Celeste who donated 10% of their net proceeds from the sale of food and drink on that evening.
Events like these help the Friends of the Library to continue programming like

The Children Summer Book Club including all the affiliated activities
Author events for all ages
Special informational speakers for all ages
Tradition Children’s Costume Parade in town
Annual Stone Soup and Food Drive Event that serves warm soup to the public and raises several hundreds of dollars for the St. Peters by the Sea Food Pantry

Winners of the cash prizes were: Mary Colman, Mr. Oliverio and Becky Durkin

The Friends Eleventh Annual Costume Parade was a total success!

The day was perfect – sunny and beautiful. While waiting for the parade to start many of the families had their pictures taken in front of the Halloween blowups. The parade was led by Narragansett Police and Debbie Kane played the bag pipe. They walked to the South Beach parking lot. The Town of Narragansett organized a Trunk a Treat activity where over 20 cars open their trunks with treats for all the children. It was so much fun. Then the Parade walked to the Pier Market Place and many of the businesses handed out treats. Last the children entered the Library greeted by the Friends volunteers who passed out cookies, drinks and a pumpkin for each family. Pumpkins were donated by Belmont Market Place. The children had the opportunity to decorate masks and socialize. It was a fun day had by all.