Celebrate Forest Hills library turning 50

The Forest Hills branch of Queens Library will celebrate a half-century of service with three days of events. Beginning on Thursday, November 1 with a folk music concert at 2 p.m., the festivities will wrap up on Saturday, November 3 at 3:30 p.m. with a lecture and slideshow by Cheryl Cuddeback, a lifetime resident of Forest Hills, about famous Forest Hills residents.
On Thursday - in addition to the concert by guitarists/singers David Alkalay and Bruce Jacobs, who will perform both original and well-known songs from Spain, Russia and Israel - officials have organized a story time and crafts at 3 p.m. for beginning readers.
Additionally, there will be a belly-dancing demonstration by Shoshana at 6 p.m. Shoshana has been dancing and teaching for a total of 27 years, also serves as the director and choreographer for the Shoshana Dance Theater Company.
On Friday, parents or caregivers and their babies, ages 12 to 24 months, are invited to “Mother Goose Time,” a program of nursery rhymes, finger plays, and songs, to be held at 2 and 2:30 p.m. Later in the afternoon - at 3:30 p.m. - a chess tournament for kids ages 8 to 18 will be held. Pre-registration is required.
On Saturday at 1 p.m., the Belle’s Players Comedy - members of the Kew Gardens Community Center Actor’s Workshop - will perform popular dramatic and comic scenes. At the same time, kids can participate in face painting.
At 2 p.m., the Amazing Jason the Magician will put on a magic show for children ages 6 to 12, and at the same time Olivia Lu will hold a recital of the works of Strauss, Chopin, Mozart, and Ravel on the harp and piano. Lu will be musically accompanied by her young student artists.
Locals are also invited to visit the library, located at 108-19 71st Avenue, to pick up a free library card - at any time - or visit www.queenslibrary.org/librarycard.
Once inside the Forest Hills branch, patrons will get a firsthand look at the recent renovations, officials said.
“We’ve just completed a total interior refurbishing that has made the Queens Library at Forest Hills one of the most customer-friendly, with RFID self-check that has nearly eliminated waiting in lines. Customers all over Queens love it, but in a library as busy as Forest Hills, it is especially valuable,” said Queens Library Executive Director Thomas Galante, explaining that the branch is one of the most active in the library’s system.
“The Queens Library at Forest Hills has more to offer than ever before,” said Hwai-Min Wood, the Community Library Manager. “Our collection of books and videos has recently been refreshed. We have computer workstations, free wireless access and a quiet-study room. The new Children’s Room d/cor is delightful.”
Although the building is 49 turning 50, Queens Library has been serving the Forest Hills community since 1912, a library spokesperson said. The first location was at the corner of Thornton’s Drug Store on Austin Street, and then the library set up show in a room of the Forest Hills Inn. After several more moves, the library moved into a temporary building on 71st Avenue in 1946. The present-day library opened on the same site in September 1958.
“Queens Library has been serving Forest Hills for more than 90 years, and the library has grown as the community has grown,” Galante said.
For more information about the library’s events, call 718-268-7934.