Red Feather Library marks four decades

By Stephen Clearheart Johnson
North Forty News

This summer the mountain community of Red Feather Lakes is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the official birth of the community library.

Unofficially, the library's roots date to the pioneers of the community sharing and trading books during long winter nights cut off from the outside by the rigors of winter travel. One local history volume quotes a pioneer woman in the 1870s speaking of reading aloud to the children while her sister knitted socks.

In 1969, the local women's club now known as Mountain Gals asked Larimer County to provide bookmobile services to the community. The bookmobile, however, was unable to make it over McNey Hill on the then-unpaved Red Feather Lakes Road. The Gals then secured 250 surplus or duplicate books from the county libraries, obtained a $240 grant from the Larimer County Commissioners and opened a library in the community building.

Staffed by volunteers, the library reflected the underlying spirit of volunteerism that is the driving spirit of the community. The community building, now known as the Property Owner's Association (POA) building, was itself planned and built by volunteers from donated funds, raffles and fund-raisers such as barbecues.

By 1977, the county was contributing $2,000 per year to the library, which had grown to 5,000 books in 520 square feet. But board member Mary Stenzel wanted the library to have its own building. After her death, her husband started a foundation in her name to lead the drive. After countless fund drives, bingo parties and spaghetti dinners, the new building opened in July 1988. Today, the meeting room at the library is named for Mary Stenzel and is used by many clubs and groups.

In 1986, a nonprofit group, Friends of the Library, was formed to raise funds to support the library through a variety of activities. Its three annual book sales are locally famous. In this same year the library got its first paid director, working part time on an $8,000 county grant. Volunteers, currently 40 of them, still account for most of the staffing.

Red Feather's history demonstrates that the community can prosper and grow without the need for a locally elected government. Yet, the residents are not hesitant to organize special tax districts to achieve desired goals. This is what happened in 1999 when county funding ceased and the community voted with a 2-1 margin to form a tax district to support the library. It has the distinction of being the smallest library district in the state.

In 2005, library leaders expanded the building to incorporate more office space, the meeting room and an addition for children's materials.

Materials and space for children's activities continue to be a major activity of the library. Out of 12,000 items currently in the library, almost one-third are for children. The monthly preschool story hour draws crowds, and regular activities and programs for youngsters are a mainstay. Kids can even check out toys at the library.

From the beginning, the library has had to focus on an ever-expanding technical revolution in library materials. From audio books, cassette and VHS tapes, to CDs, DVDs, fax, photocopies, Internet and e-mail, the library continues to expand beyond books and periodicals in ways the founders could not have imagined.

Local residents can now peruse all the state libraries' holdings via computer and reserve materials to be delivered to the local library by courier through the interlibrary loan service--a far cry from the days when the bookmobile was sideways on the ice of McNey Hill.

This summer, the library and Friends of the Library will celebrate the anniversary with a continuing series of special events and fund-raising activities, from authors' talks to history walks. A complete list is available at www.rfllibrary.org.