Afternoon tea kicks off library's centennial celebration
By Ken Powers Community Reporter

Actress Rita Parisi prepares to discuss the events of the day - 1908 style - with Westborough residents as part of the Westborough Public Library's Centennial Celebration. PHOTO/KEN POWERS

Westborough - The Westborough Public Library kicked off its year-long centennial celebration Jan. 4 with "Tea in Time - 1908," a one-woman play of sorts about life in New England just after the turn of the century.

With 75 of her closest friends hanging on her every word, Rita Parisi explained in great detail about her near-death experience at the hands of a motorcar driver.

"It was coming right for me as I was crossing the street," Parisi told friends who stopped by the library's meeting room for tea and talk. "If there wasn't enough to dodge when crossing the road what with the carriages and their horses and the things they leave behind, now we must dodge motorcars as well."

Parisi talked for about an hour about ice skating and courtship and just about anything and everything that came to mind.

"Back in 1908 hosting a tea was routine social function," Parisi said. "You'd invite your friends and neighbors over and discuss your day or your week, depending on how often you got together. The tea would rotate from house to house."

"Tea in Time" was the first of more than two dozen programs the Westborough Public Library will host as part of its centennial celebration.

"This is going to be a big year for us," Library Trustee Jim Holmes said. "It starts with the tea, but there's at least two programs planned every month and there's something for everybody - kids, adults, music lovers, history buffs - you name it."

A partial list of events that will be held at the library, at 55 West Main St., include a magic show, family concerts, workshops and talks with local authors. To continue the library's heritage of giving to the community, the library will also give those who sign up for a new library card a free book bag and mouse pad as gifts.

Holmes said there are brochures available at the library with the centennial's schedule of events, and the same listing can be obtained online by logging on to www.westboroughlib. org. He said the trustees have been actively planning the celebration for about two years, but have been talking about it for five.

"We're excited, we think it's going to be a lot of fun for everyone," Library Director Carolyn Delude said. "We'd like to get as many people as we can to come visit the library. We're lucky in the sense that we're a pretty busy, well-used library, but we're trying to attract people who haven't visited us yet."

Holmes said 1908 was a historic year worldwide, not just in Westborough, pointing out that it was the year that Henry Ford introduced the model-T, the Wright Brothers took flight and the building of the Panama Canal began.

Just inside the library's main door, in the reading room, is an exhibit of pictures showing the library's evolution from a small lending library that began in 1777 in a local store owned by Breck Parkman, to the way it is today.

Delude said the highlight of the year-long celebration will occur Saturday June 21, the 100th anniversary of the dedication of the library building.

"That's going to be a really big deal," Delude said. "We've got a lot of things planned and are adding more every day."