Howard County Library Branch Transforms Into a Speakeasy, County Executive Becomes a Bartender, For One Night of Fundraising

Indeed, it is a party at the library. And yes, its name, “Evening in the Stacks,” conjures up images of hanging out amid the normally quiet environs of tall bookshelves containing thick tomes organized by the alphabet and the Dewey Decimal System.

But this will not be a quiet gathering.

Nor is this the traditional stuffed-shirt annual fundraiser.

Nor will the Howard County Library  look completely like a library. This year, it will resemble a speakeasy befitting of the party's “Roaring ‘20s theme,” with alcohol and music and guests of local importance, some of whom might be wearing period dress.

Oh, and there will be literature, too.

“It’s going to have kind of an art deco feel,” said Andrea Misner, a spokeswoman for the library system. “You’re going to walk in and it’s going to be like a bare brick hallway, and then there’s going to be a sliding door at the entrance. Someone’s going to let you in. And as soon as you open the doors – it’s opulent glamour inside.”

"Evening in the Stacks" is this Saturday from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. This is the 14th year the library has held the fundraiser. Its costs are covered by sponsorships and in-kind donations, and it typically raises more than $60,000 a year for library programs, according to Misner.

“There’s a lot of extra things that the library does that this helps to fund,” she said.

Among the programs it supports: Battle of the Books, an annual reading competition for fifth-graders; the library spelling bee; Project Literacy, which teaches and tutors adult students in math, reading and writing; Teen Time, which provides after-school activities for teenagers; and Dogs Educating and Assisting Readers, a program through which kids gain confidence in their reading skills while reading to dogs.

Tickets are $100. Those who pay will walk in to see that much of the furniture surrounding the information desk has been moved. The East Columbia branch will have closed at noon to give time for tables and chairs and computers to be picked up and taken elsewhere, and for the area to be cleaned (see the video above from before the 2008 fundraiser).

“They’ll be constructing a stage, and they’re bringing in bars and seating,” Misner said. “We’re having some high-top leather tables. The information desk will be our main bar. And then there’s a silent auction, so throughout the room there will be tables with items. And then there will be food stations.”

The transformation to a speakeasy will include “celebrity bartenders.” Tending bar this year will be County Executive Ken Ulman; Rachelina Bonacci, executive director of Howard County Tourism; Vic Broccolino, president and CEO of Howard County General Hospital; Candace Dodson Reed, director of constituent and community affairs with Howard County government; Dick Story, the retiring CEO of the Howard County Economic Development Authority; and Lara Weathersbee, a local lawyer.

While all of the bartenders are “Wanted” – see the ‘Wanted’ posters of the bartenders above – admittedly, not all of them are overly-experienced.

This’ll be the second year Ulman will have served in this capacity at the fundraiser.

“The executive is not a mixologist, and I think his bartending has garnered mixed reviews,” said Kevin Enright, county government spokesman, writing via e-mail with what one assumes was a grin. “I enjoy that, while attending Evening in the Stacks, he gets ordered around.”

Broccolino, meanwhile, said his bartending skills might be hampered by the fact that he doesn’t drink.

“I don’t even know the different brands of beers,” he said.

But he wants to support the library, he said, and he enjoys “the diversity of the event – they have different types of food, readings, an auction – my wife is especially enamored of that.”

Along with the silent auction, the drinks, the food, and music (performed by the Junkyard Saints), there will be a literary portion of the evening involving Helen Simonson – an area author whose first novel made Oprah Winfrey’s magazine’s list of the top 10 books of 2010 – and Ron Charles, an editor and critic with The Washington Post who will be moderating the discussion.

“I’m very excited about the two of them,” Misner said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing them interact.”

So, yes, this party at the library will have literature. But the organizers have ensured that there is much more to it.

“It’s a really fun night at the library,” Misner said. “And it’s for a good cause.”

For more information:
http://www.hclibrary.org/index.php?page=330