Friends of the Narragansett Library – Maury Loontjens Library in Narragansett

Donate to The Friends

Every donation to support The Friends of the Narragansett Library, a 501c3 organization, helps us to support our vibrant library community.

The Friends of the Narragansett Library is a 501c3 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

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

Join the Friends

Table of Contents

Upcoming Events

Happening Now: Used books and purses are being accepted at the library during open hours. Please see the front desk.

Next Meeting: June 1, 2026 at 1 PM

Book & Purse Sale: new this year, the annual book sale will also include gently used purses for sale! The sale will take place on 2 days – June 18th and June 20th. Please see below for more detail.

Thursday, June 18 9:30-12:30 – exclusively for members of The Friends; 12:30-4:45 – open to the public
Saturday, June 20, 2026 – 9:30-3:00 – open to the public

Past Events

Library Solar Celebration: May 2, 2026

On a cloudy, misty day, it was all sunshine at the library where we celebrated becoming the 1st RI Library to incorporate solar energy into our infrastructure and this is the first municipal solar usage in Narragansett (that isn’t RI state). Government representatives from Federal, State and Town levels, Sen. Jack Reed, Sen. Alana Dimario, Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee, Jim Durkin, Donna Vignali and Alex Menzies, joined members of the Library Board of Trustees, Bill Fazioli (RI Infrastructure Bank), Amanda Pfeiffer (KCM RI), and others instrumental in bringing this vision to fruition. Sue Amoruso received a certificate or recognition for her dedication to the project from day 1. Guests enjoyed refreshments and were able to talk to experts on solar energy.

Stone Soup and Food Drive: January 31, 2026

The annual Stone Soup and Food Drive took place on Saturday, January 31st, 2026 from Noon to 2. The event began with the reading of Stone Soup by Fire Chief Scott Partington in the Children’s room. Soup was served and enjoyed by all! Stone Soup kicked off Food Drive for St. Peter’s which continued through the end of March. Special thanks to the restaurants and markets for their generous donations of delicious soups and bread: Arturo Joe’s, Belmont Market, Celeste, Coast Guard House, Gansett Wraps, George’s, Greenhouse, Iggy’s, Mariner Grill, New Dragon, Panera Bread, Shaw’s, Stop & Shop and Twin Willows.

Thank you to all our volunteers and to all who participated and brought donations throughout February and March for St. Peter’s Food Pantry. 943 pounds of food and $547.00 was collected from this drive!

From Maryellen Banks, Parish Administrator, ” We are so thankful for the Friends consistent support – it makes a tremendous difference, both because of the food collected and the awareness raised about the Community Market. And of course, we are grateful to Mary Ellen and Harold for the hard work that they do to coordinate between our two groups. Such a wonderful relationship certainly deserves to be nurtured!”

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.