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On June 13, work began on a landscaping story garden project that’s being fully funded by the Friends of the Barrett Memorial Library. A strip of land on the building’s south side is transforming into the Friends Story Garden, a place where storytimes, quiet reading and connecting to the outdoor WiFi can be enjoyed. The idea came out of a landscape design project the Friends approved last year that included the north, west and south grounds of the library building, which is owned and maintained by the Village of Williams Bay.
Barrett Memorial Library is located at 65 W Geneva St., in Williams Bay.
After much planning, a longtime dream is coming to life, quite literally in Williams Bay.
On June 13, work began on a landscaping story garden project that’s being fully funded by the Friends of the Barrett Memorial Library.
A strip of land on the building’s south side is transforming into the Friends Story Garden, a place where storytimes, quiet reading and connecting to the outdoor WiFi can be enjoyed.
“We couldn’t be more grateful to the Friends for making this dream come true,” said Joy Schnupp, library director.
The idea came out of a landscape design project the Friends approved last year that included the north, west and south grounds of the building, which is owned and maintained by the Village of Williams Bay.
“Ann Becker, president of the Friends, and I were brainstorming one day about this particular plot of land, and the idea of making it a usable space for both children and adults became our focus,” Schnupp recalled. “When the Friends hired Rachel Catlett from Brown Dog Farm in Elkhorn to design the whole project, we knew our intentions were heard and were in capable hands.”
Today a self-described “grass farmer, painter, print maker, gardener, mom, cook, shepherd, horse wrangler and animal lover” with her husband Ed at their Brown Dog Farm in rural Sugar Creek near Elkhorn, Catlett enjoyed a 30-year career as an ornamental horticulturist, including a tenure with the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Ill.
Feted as one of the world’s great living museums and conservation science centers, the 50,000-member Chicago Botanic Garden draws more than one million visitors annually to view its 28 gardens and four natural areas on its scenic 385-acre campus as one of only 17 public gardens accredited by the American Association of Museums.
Taking a creative landscaper’s eye to Barrett Memorial Library’s blank slate story garden area, Catlett said her design includes “inventive” outdoor seating areas and plantings to “create a little outside room” and “enticing place” for a wide variety of library patrons and programming uses.
Combining natural materials like boulders and landscaping stones with an emphasis on low maintenance natural plantings beneficial to birds and insect pollinators, longtime library lover Catlett said the “fun” sensory plantings will engage the young and young-at-heart alike with their vivid appeal to the senses of sight, smell, touch and sound.
“I enjoyed the process,” Catlett said of creating the story garden design. “The Friends are a great group of people. I tried to meet as many of their needs as I could.”
Catlett’s design on paper is being brought to life by Twin Lakes-based Exceptional Service, whose crew is busy creating stone walls, steps and seating and planting a variety of decorative vegetation, including native plants, bushes and a dwarf shade tree.
Sherry Mizialko, owner and landscape designer, expects to donate whimsical items to be hidden amongst the plants to help spark the creativity that happens when children are immersed in nature.
Williams Bay Village President Bill Duncan is pleased with the work-in-progress landscaping project, calling it a welcome addition to village’s Barrett Memorial Library facility, built in the mid-1960s, enlarged in the mid-1990s, remodeled in 2011, expanded again in 2018-2019 with a 1,600-square-foot, $380,000 addition that included a new community room and more space for group meetings and functions.
“I think the results are going to be awesome,” Duncan said of the story garden. “I’m delighted with it. A lot of effort and time has been devoted by volunteers. Funds were raised by the Friends of the Library. It improves an under-used area around the library. I’m looking forward to seeing it when it’s completed.”
Schnupp describes the Friends of Barrett Memorial Library as a small but mighty group of volunteers.
“They have a history of successful book sales and amazing gift baskets for silent auctions, with huge support from businesses and residents of Williams Bay and beyond,” she said. “When the village funded the new addition back in 2019, the Friends offered to help supply furniture and other needed big-ticket items, but also voiced an interest in helping to upgrade the landscaping around the building, so it’s wonderful to see this goal come to life.”
A memorial garden bed is also in the Friends’ future plans.
“We’d like to honor those members who have passed with a lasting memorial that also beautifies and benefits the library,” Becker said.
To make that happen, as well as completing their master landscape design project, the Friends continue to hold book sales, along with occasional programs throughout the year.
On the library’s lower level, visitors will find a year-round Book Nook with thousands of items for sale. Occasionally the Friend’s new Store-age Room is open to the public as well.
The next dates for Friends book sales are July 7-9 and Aug. 11-13.
“We are always looking for new members,” said Becker. “Find our booth at the Farmers Market at Edgewater Park on Fridays throughout the summer, or come visit us at the library and buy a book or two. Everyone is welcome!”
Barrett Memorial Library was established in 1907 by namesake Storrs Barrett, administrator of Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay.
Located at 65 W. Geneva St. in Williams Bay, Barrett Memorial Library is open Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For more information, call 262-245-2709, email wmsbay@williamsbay.lib.wi.us, or visit https://www.williamsbay.lib.wi.us/.
More information about Friends of Barrett Memorial Library is available by calling 262-245-2709, emailing becker@williamsbay.lib.wi.us, or visiting https://www.williamsbay.lib.wi.us/explore/friends-of-the-library.
The annual Williams Bay Lions Club pancake breakfast brought out a big crowd.
Sami Asani, a member of the Williams Bay Lions Club, flips pancakes for hungry customers on Saturday, July 3.
The pancake breakfast brought out a big crowd on July 3 and a line much longer than in the past, some estimated about three times longer.
Morgan Watson, 7, digs into her pancake at the Williams Bay Lions Club’s pancake breakfast on Saturday, July 3.
Larry Frederick, a Vietnam War veteran, sits in the center enjoying pancakes at the Williams Bay Lions Club’s pancake breakfast on Saturday, July 3.
Lynn Tucker enjoys pancakes with her daughter Marielle Tucker on Saturday, July 3. Lynn lives in the Chicago area now, but grew up in Williams Bay.
Byron and Marlene Miller enjoy pancakes at the annual Williams Bay Lions Club pancake day on July 3, 2021. They have been married 52 years and coming to the breakfast for about 15 years.
Left: Jim Barton, a past Williams Bay Lions Club president, mixes the pancake batter with a drill on Saturday, July 3.
Right: Matt Raimondi, whose grandparents have a home in Williams Bay, loads up on pancakes and milks at the Williams Bay Lions Club pancake breakfast.
Kate Harris, smiles as she holds her 10-month-old daughter Madeleine Harris at the Williams Bay Lions Club pancake breakfast. She has been coming for years and is happy to be able to enjoy the tradition with the next generation.
The annual Williams Bay pancake breakfast brought hundreds of hungry people out to enjoy pancakes. As of 10:30 a.m. they had served about 800 people and they were still going strong.
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On June 13, work began on a landscaping story garden project that’s being fully funded by the Friends of the Barrett Memorial Library. A strip of land on the building’s south side is transforming into the Friends Story Garden, a place where storytimes, quiet reading and connecting to the outdoor WiFi can be enjoyed. The idea came out of a landscape design project the Friends approved last year that included the north, west and south grounds of the library building, which is owned and maintained by the Village of Williams Bay.
Barrett Memorial Library is located at 65 W Geneva St., in Williams Bay.