Friends of the Narragansett Library – Maury Loontjens Library in Narragansett

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

Next Meeting: May 5 at 1 PM

This is our annual meeting where we will elect officers and approve policies. Please remember you must be current with your membership in order to vote.

Come Celebrate and Honor Fae Rosenthal with us! The Friends of the Narragansett Library And Maury Loontjens Memorial Library presents “The Fae Rosenthal Celebration of the Arts”

Sunday, April 27. 2025 At 1:00 pm

The Friends of the Narragansett Library are pleased to announce that in memory of their daughter Fae and her love for the library and the arts, The Rosenthal Family have made a generous donation to the Friends to promote the arts with lectures, specialized art programs, and craft classes to be held at the library. “The Fae Rosenthal Celebration of the Arts” series will be held in the Fall and is currently in the planning stage. We would like your input to formulate interesting and rewarding programs directed towards the arts. Fae celebrated her birthday in April. We felt it was a perfect month to kickoff this exciting venture. Please join us at the library on Sunday, April 27th at 1:00 pm, to honor Fae’s memory. We will have cake, share ideas and gather suggestions for this wonderful series. We are looking for artists, craftsmen and designers to collaborate and share their talents by conducting classes, lectures or workshops under this honorarium.

Contact Mary Ann Grintchenko at mag131@cox.net.

Annual Book Sale

Dates:

Members Preview – Friday, June 20th, 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Open to the Public – Friday, June 20th, 12:30 PM – 5 PM

Open to the Public – Saturday, June 21st, 9:30 AM – 1:30 PM

We will begin accepting books on Thursday, May 1st. Please drop off at the Library during regular hours.

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.