A Chocolate Party and you WERE invited
Was that a dream? I walked through the front door, blinked to clear my eyes and there was chocolate everywhere. I blinked again, Hersheys, a big pile on that table; M&Ms, Milky Ways and Snickers, brownies and fudge. WOW. You weren’t kidding me. I must have gone to Heaven! Some of it looked homemade but some surely was store bought. (Man, three later, those brownies were the best.) Where was I? As I pinched myself, I came back to reality
D.C. Gomez Carolyn Benesh K.L. Cottrel Avione Lee
Donna Barnard Laura Emmons as a friendly greeter, actually a real “Friend of the Library” said, “welcome to the Chocolate Party, you’re at the Atlanta Public Library (101 W Hiram) and it was Thursday, June 26th at 5:00 pm. We’ll be finished at 7:00. I hope you ate dinner because all we have here is lots of chocolate…and fun!”
The Friend told me there were 10 real authors sitting all over the library. I just needed to walk around, grab chocolate everywhere I looked, which I did, and visit with everyone while listening for my door prize number. It was a very busy place as the authors were selling and autographing their books everywhere surrounded by chocolate! And, in 2 hours, Friends called numbers for 20 fabulous gift cards from the following local businesses: Luigi’s, Uncle Juan’s, The Junktion, Price Hardware, Rabbit Hole, Jana’s Mercantile, Camelot Manor Antiques, Roark’s Auto Parts, Newkirk’s, Harp’s Jewelers, Atlanta Floral, Merle Norman, Cobblestone, Cafe Crema, Fit Family Nutrition, Terri’s Treasurers and Rocking A. (We love our sponsors and remind you, when buying in Atlanta, please check out our sponsors stores first!)
The “Friend” went on to further explain that the event was really about promoting and letting the public know about all the projects and various happenings that the library had to offer. There are kid projects; summer activity packets; a reading log challenge; zoofari (1 more time); Ms. Maria, the storyteller; a once-a-month tea or spice box, (very popular with everyone); tiny canvas; “crafternoon” every Friday; story time for kids; space and puzzle adventures and a diamond painting class. There is also a quilting club and book reading club. You might want to stop by the library really soon and pick up a summer calendar. It’s packed with so much fun stuff!
The authors scattered throughout the library were: K L Cottrell a romance fiction writer with 8 books published. In the children’s category was Cal Davis writing for PreK and middle school. Cal surprised me with some of his books translated to Spanish! Other’s on site were Donna Barnard, Laura Comer, Patty Wiseman, Sil DC Gomez, Carolyn Benesh, and new authors, Ian Griffin, David Emprimo with kid books and Christian adult books, and Avione Lee with her latest book, “Pied”. The library did purchase books as well for their shelves, just in case you didn’t get there.
And finally, at 6:55 pm right before the party was over, they drew for the winner of the raffle for the quilt from our Nimble Thimble quilters. The quilt, made by Diana Fulks this year, was gorgeous. She passed away in a house fire last year and this was the last quilt she ever made. The winner of the quilt was Lynn Monroe who re-gifted the quilt back to Gary, Diana’s husband. The house fire destroyed everything and this will be the only quilt that Gary will have from his lovely wife.
The 2nd door prize was a $100 gift basket with various luxurious gifts won by Susan Irby.
And, the 3rd super door prize this year was a Cuisinart 36” Four Burner Gas Griddle! Retail value was $199.00 and was won by Summer Moore. Chocolate was definitely heavenly and everywhere! Plus, it was an opportunity to discover the hidden aspects of the Atlanta Public Library and Friends! They are getting better and better every year and the Atlanta Public Library is more than just a brick building with thousands of books. They have so much to offer with fun events and programs. Stop by and pick up a monthly newsletter at the front desk. And, don’t miss the chocolate party next year in June!