By JEFF EPSTEIN
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WINDSOR, Vt. — At the Windsor Mansion Inn Saturday night, dancers got the chance to step out to the music and step up to help the town library.
For the second year in a row, the elegant venue high atop a hill on Pembroke Road hosted the Fireside Frolic, a fundraiser for the Windsor Library (windsorlibrary.org). The event had a strong turnout, well above 50 people, no doubt helped by the reasonable weather and road conditions.
The event sold tickets, and also offered a 50/50 raffle and a silent auction.
As partiers sipped drinks and enjoyed Fry Daddy, a jazz band, they danced past tables with about 20 different offerings for the silent auction, donated by local businesses and community members.
Donations included hard goods, art items, fun baskets of goodies, and services. Any interested person could place a bid on an item by signing the sheet in front of the offering and marking down a bid.
“I am tickled by the event tonight,” said a grinning Tom Haushalter, the president of the library board of trustees. While the library does other fundraisers such as book sales, he said, this one is especially popular and perhaps the largest.
Libraries serve multiple different types of patrons, and the funds are used for “keeping the place open for kids after school” as well as senior services and other programs the library offers, he said.
The library operates as a dual public and private partnership. Although the town supplies some funds ($84,981 in the current budget), that only constitutes about 60 – 70 percent of what is needed, and “we rely on the generosity of the community” for the remainder, said Haushalter.
On this evening, the community was looking for generous fun, and the setting was conducive to both fun and purpose. Unlike some halls that are single enormous rooms, the Windsor Mansion feels like a home because it once was. Weddings are often held here. The bar at this event was in a different room from the band, and the buffet was in another room on the other side. This made it easy for people to chat in comfort and move from room to room for different activities.
At one point in the evening, Haushalter halted the band briefly to give thanks to everyone. “Our library director, Christine Porter, did so much to make this possible. Thank you to Christine and the board of trustees.”
“Thank you to all of the local businesses, artisans, and folks who contributed things to the silent auction,” he said. “We are truly grateful.”
Fry Daddy kicked off another tune to frolic by, and the dancers danced on.
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