Required Reading

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The David M. Hunt Library is so merrily and masterfully run by the ebullient Cookie Kubarek and Erica Joncyk [below] that it is easy to forget that the library operates on a shoestring. The upcoming Silent Auction & Cocktail Party on September 8 and Evening of Words & Music on September 29 are responsible for generating more than 10% of the library's annual budget. Everyone who uses and loves the library needs to support these two fundraisers. You can reserve your tickets by calling 824-7424. Zoe Fedorjaczenko and Sharon Hamilton have been working all summer to make the Silent Auction not only a worthy event but also a fun one. Erica will, as always, tend the open bar and mix the library's signature cocktail, Greenman Grog (rum, lime juice and fresh mint.) The hors d'oeuvres are coming from the Country Bistro in Salisbury, which is run by library board member Jacqueline Heriteau. Seventh and eighth graders from the Kellogg School are the volunteer waitstaff. More than 100 items will be for sale and they are a mixture of the practical, unusual, sensual and whimsical. There are gift certificates for Sand Road Animal Hospital and the Pine Cone Hill Home Store in Lenox, MA; a private ceramics workshop for four with Kellogg art teacher Chris Hanley; and a 2008 season pass for two to the Berkshire Theatre Festival [right] in Stockbridge, MA. You can bid on a spa-style pedicure from Skintastic in Lakeville or a day on a pontoon boat on the Twin Lakes from O'Hara's Landing. A new feature this year will be a live auction conducted by the inimitable Betsy Howie, who will offer up lots such as a weekend in a Greenwich Village apartment donated by Mary and Richard Lanier or a private tour of Bunny Williams's garden followed by a luncheon for ten in her conservatory [left] and an autographed copy of her best-selling book, An Affair With a House. All of these items will be in the catalogue available for perusal at Toymaker's Cafe, the library and Town Hall by August 31. To make the auction as profitable as possible, Sharon and Zoe found sponsors to underwrite the evening (John Harney Associates, Century Aggregates, Salisbury Bank & Trust, Torrington Savings Bank, John Bates Contracting) so all the money raised will help the Hunt. Whether your purchases are gifts for family or gifts for yourself, every penny you spend at the Silent Auction will be a gift to your library.