Fairview board members in the group photo in attendance at the 50 year anniversary ice cream social. Front row: Connie Jeffers,Doris Warner,Cherie Stevenson,Agnes Freas,Gary Atkin,Becky Porter,Diane Galusha,Lori Rosa. Back row:Amy Metnick,Barbara Atkin,Joyce Gray,Cindy Taylor,Ellie Verni,Diana Cope,Gina Griffin,Julia Marks,Darcie Sarubbi
By Robert Brune
MARGARETVILLE — The Fairview Public library in Margaretville was the site of an old-fashioned ice cream social to celebrate the 50th anniversary of serving the Margaretville area. This event was held Thursday in their beautiful garden with banners, streamers, and huge tubs of ice cream. A myriad of library members mingled with some of the original founding board members and the current board members now serving the library.
As sundaes were made and enjoyed, people reminisced about the library and its history. Gary Atkins, a founding member of the first board, shared that "starting the library in the beginning was not easy. It was many years in the making.“ He recounted that as the library building fund was amassed, there were several very prominent families and community leaders who were integral in making the library possible.
It was at this point that this reporter learned that there were several conflicting accounts of how Fairview Library got its name. One explanation is that the first thoughts were to name the library after one or more of the donors, but there were so many generous folks who came forward to help fulfill this dream, it became impossible to select one donor to receive the honor of having the library bear one family name. The founding board thus chose the name Fairview to respectfully and fairly pay homage to all of the foundation sponsors. The second prevailing bit of library lore as told by the current Director, Doris Warner, is that the library was at one point housed on the second floor of the Maple House in Arkville, overlooking what was then the fairgrounds. Thus, the name Fairview was born. With these two naming stories in existence, the library board and supporters are looking to the community to share which tale might be more accurate, or perhaps there is a third theory or combinations of theories. The Fairview Library is looking to the community to postulate on the naming controversy and will be reaching out to you, dear readers, to help them solve the mystery. Stay tuned on how to share your thoughts on this
We perhaps may l never know which bit of folklore represents the true naming of the library. What we do know is that decades of dedicated library board members have devoted themselves to providing a wonderful service to the avid bibliophiles in our community.
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