Where We've Been and Where We're Going
Donation protected
Hello. My name is Blair Clark and I have the privilege of stewarding and curating the little free library known as Biltmore's Passage in Peoria, Illinois. We are almost coming upon our one-year anniversary and I cannot be more excited. This library has never just been a place for books for us and I hope you see it that way as well. Behind everything is a person. These books have an author, illustrator, publisher and so on. You, the readers...the community...we are all here together. Biltmore's passage is not only a portal to these other worlds or stories within the pages of its books, it is a way to connect to one another.
REFLECTION OF THIS PAST YEAR
This first year was great. It was a learning experience. You have ideas for things and you know you can't do everything, so you make the most of what you can to start. I think one of the things I was not prepared for was sickness. And I know...you're like...what? Sickness?? Yes, I know that may sound silly but this was my daughter's first year of preschool and boy....we were sick so much of the year. On top of it just making life slightly more complicated it also complicated taking care of the library. I made sure not to stock or touch books when our family was sick just to be safe in keeping all of you healthy. So, anytime we got the green light my two kids and I were stamping, stocking, researching, and so on. This has been an amazing first year with all of you...experiencing all of this with my kiddos and my partner. They have been so supportive and helpful and we're excited to see where these coming years take us.
SO, WHAT DOES YOUR CONTRIBUTION GO TOWARD?
-Circular Garden Bench surrounding tree next to library (used for events and any visitor of the library)
-Garden flag for sign
-Events (honorarium for guest readers/speakers and refreshments)
-Giveaways for the library from Local Artisans
-Artist Commissions (bookmarks, prints, promotional material, etc.)
-Locally authored books
-Zines
-Shirts
-Materials for handprinted and handmade patches w/library logo
THE BACKGROUND STORY
Biltmore's Passage was an idea contrived many years ago. Way back...in my college years I saw my first picture online of a little free library but I didn't even really know what it was at the time. The picture I stumbled upon was of a tree in front of someone's home...it had been built into something almost fantasy-like...a dead hollowed-out tree...it had multiple doors and lights so even at night it looked magnificent. There was no explanation with the photo so I didn't even know what was truly being presented to me...only that it was beautiful in every sense of the word. At some point...years later, I learned about little free libraries and what they offer to their community...such a wonderful idea. I always had a love for the library and what it brought to the people of the surrounding area...accessible knowledge or stories for the community. I always held onto this idea but it wasn't till owning a home with my husband that possessed a lot of foot traffic that I really and truly latched onto this concept. I wanted to make this a reality. The community has always been so important for us and in what we want to provide and also raise our kids within...we felt it to be almost missional...something we were meant to do...to in a way open up our home to all of those passing by. Especially when we were hit by COVID...our desire to make this come to fruition grew tenfold. We talked about different themes for the library and we landed on something from the Chronicles of Narnia...the wardrobe. Now, as much as we wanted to make it ourselves...time was not on our side with a young baby...we also wanted to ultimately do what we were striving to be...a supportive outlet for makers...artisans. So we hired someone perfect for the job...woodworker and wonderful teacher, Skyler Anderson. And with his help we were able to make this portal a reality for every individual's travel through time.
IN CONCLUSION
Thank you for taking time to read about our experience. Your donation of any amount will help us take this library to another level of community engagement and service. We are excited to continue to support local artisans and we are looking forward to seeing all of you as you visit Biltmore's Passage.
With love from the Clark Family,
Blair, Jason, Jeanne and Liam
P.S. One last thank you to all of you that came to our ribbon cutting ceremony last year, have visited the library, donated books, given words of encouragement, have left little book reviews on paper inside of the returned books, given time and effort in making bookmarks or giveaways...none of this would be possible without any of you <3
Organizer
Blair Clark
Organizer
Peoria, IL