Monroe Free Library hosts holiday boutique on Dec. 1

Monroe - The Monroe Free Library will sponsor its fourth annual Holiday Boutique on Saturday, Dec. 1. Every year the staff, board and volunteers get together to sell books, videos and homemade crafts and goodies. All the proceeds benefit the Library’s collection of large print books. The sale will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the library building. (The snow date is Sunday, Dec. 2.) There will be a raffle. Last year’s raffle featured a gift basket and a homemade afghan. Reference clerk Marie Arnstein says that the Boutique grew from a sense among staffers: “That fall, I remembered the book sale from the Cheese Festival and I said to Suzanne (Skeels, the Library’s assistant director), ‘If we’re going to ask people to give us money, we should put ours where our mouth is.’” Every year since 2004, the Boutique has been a successful fundraiser, as well as an all-day fun-raiser. It’s held in the quiet area of the library building - an irony Arnstein points out, making clear: “On that one day, there is no quiet in that area.”