GENTRY — The Gentry Public Library celebrated its many years of service to Gentry-area residents and 10 years in its current home -- the renovated Carl Hardware Building in downtown Gentry -- at a special noon reception in the McKee Community Room in the Library on Friday.
According to Library volunteers, as many as 50 people were gathered in the Community Room at the busiest times, and all enjoyed the food graciously provided for the event by the McKee Foods Corporation.
Local authors conducted book signings; and library board members, past and present, visited with guests about the library, its home and its service to the Gentry community.
Though a lending library in Gentry dates back more than 100 years, the current library was founded in 1975 and housed in what is now the court clerk's office across Main Street from the current Library.
The renovation work on the current library building was the design of Marlon Blackwell of Fayetteville. Though much controversy surrounded the renovation project at the time, the end result is much appreciated in the city and the building has become a landmark structure in Gentry.
Community on 10/25/2017