Sawyer Free Library — the place where state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante discovered “Mary Poppins” and read a book about a flying car — this weekend celebrated a grand reopening after a nearly two-year $28 million construction project.
A ribbon cutting was held Friday, while those attending a Community Celebration and Open House on Saturday had a chance at breaking the world record for the most library card signups in one day.
Ferrante, the daughter of fisherman and an elementary school librarian, spoke at Friday’s ribbon cutting about the library as a gift, both as a state legislator and a neighbor who still lives in her family home a few blocks away.
It’s a place that broadened her horizons beyond the seaport’s downtown neighborhood made up of many immigrant families; a place she visited with a neighbor’s daughter three times a week growing up.
“And for a kid who didn’t hear English all the time at home, it was fascinating,” Ferrante said. “It was the first place where I met ‘Mary Poppins.’ It was the first place I learned a car could fly in ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.’
“It was the first time I realized that there were books just for us kids. And I said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m proud of this library because of the opportunities it gives.”
She and other speakers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony lauded the renovated, expanded and modernized library at 2 Dale Ave., with an entire second floor dedicated to children and teens, new study rooms, after-hours pickup lockers and quiet reading lounges.
With about 300 people sitting and standing under bright blue skies and a hot sun for those is suit jackets, speakers spoke about the importance of the democratizing effect of libraries.
They said it’s place where future generations of Gloucester residents will have access to an infinite amount of knowledge. The renovation will help inform and transform residents, students and seniors and enrich their lives well into the 21st century.
And the library will be doing this in the spirit of 19th-century businessman Samuel Sawyer who shared his wealth with Gloucester, giving the nation’s oldest fishing port a free public library in 1884, library board of trustees Chair Mern Sibley said.
“So for all this time, with a few renovations over the years, it’s been the heart of our community, open to all,” she said. “And today as we are here before this beautiful renovated and expanded library, we honor Samuel Sawyer’s vision and the beginning of this next chapter.
“What we are celebrating today is much more than glass and bricks and steel, it’s really the result of foresight and persistence and partnership. It’s a $28 million investment in our community.”
Sibley noted the presence of former Salem Mayor and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll as a sign of the significance of the project not just for Gloucester but for the entire commonwealth.
“It’s been said that libraries are known as like infinity under a roof,” Driscoll said. “Think about that. There is nothing truer than that statement. They are the great equalizers in our communities. Free access to world-wide knowledge open to all.”
“Today we have secured Gloucester’s public library as a democratizing force in our community for generations to come,” Library Director Jenny Benedict said. “While books are so much of what we do, our beliefs in our foundational values and freedoms are what guide our work each and every day.”
She spoke about how the library will protect personal privacy and intellectual freedom, provide access to the digital world while preserving Gloucester’s history “and combating mis- and dis-information that is so prevalent to our modern society,” she said to applause.
Benedict said it was a privilege of a lifetime to steward the project. And she thanked the library board of trustees, some of who worked for a decade on the project; Mayor Greg Verga; the city’s administration; Gloucester’s two state lawmakers, Ferrante and state Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr; city leaders, the design and construction teams and the library staff.
“If you take a moment to stop and look around, the community really showed up to celebrate,” said Jessica Vilas Novas of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, which provided a construction grant that was key to the project moving forward.
Verga said the renovation predated his time as mayor, crediting former Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken for her support, and the City Council’s unanimous vote for the project’s bonding.
“Watching this project come to life from window just across the street has been surreal, and today it is my honor as your mayor as we open the doors to the new Sawyer Free Library, a place built by and built for our community,” Verga said.
Tarr, who peeled off his suit jacket with his sleeves already rolled up, as Ferrante had predicted they would be, said: “It’s an amazing day. It’s an amazing day because we can look back and we can look forward at the same time. And we can think about the fact that our community together has achieved a remarkable commitment to each other, a remarkable commitment to our legacy and a remarkable commitment to our future.”
The audience heard a performance by the combined Cape Ann Youth Chorus and Cape Ann Arts Alive. A Community Celebration and Open House was held Saturday at the library.
Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714, or at eforman@northofboston.com.