More than 150 people followed the yellow lit road at this year’s Haunting at the Library fundraiser at the Prendergast Library. This year’s fundraiser is the third annual haunting and featured a trip to the Oz along a pathway lit with yellow-colored, battery-operated candles. “This year’s event was based upon The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” said Annie Green, library executive director. “Each year we conduct our haunting at the library event we base around literary stories and figures. In the past we’ve done figures based upon a variety of genres, such as Vampire County Dracula; author Edgar Allen Poe; Maleficent, a Walt Disney character; the Troll Under the Bridge, character in the fairy tale,The Three Billy-Goats Gruff; the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland story and Sherlock Holmes a literary, fictitious detective. ”

The ensemble cast of characters for the event included Dorothy Gale, the Tin Man, Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, Aunt Em, the Wicked Witch of the West, Glinda the Good Witch of the South, the Wizard of Oz and Flying Monkeys.

“We really try to have high-quality, authentic costumes and create an environment where our visitors have a fully-authentic experience,” said Green. “We strive to provide a high-quality, low-cost, educational experience for all. We also encourage participants to dress up in whatever costume they want to add to the fun.”

The event is expected to be a big draw, and this year’s offering was no different.

Center Back, John Graham with his three children, Anastasia Graham, 13, a student at Persell Middle School; Skylar Graham, 9, a student at Love Elementary School and Dante Graham, 14, a student at Persell Middle School prior to taking a tour of the James Predergast Library’s Haunting at the Library Event Saturday. P-J Photo by Christopher Blakeslee

“Our first two years of conducting this event we sold out,” said Green. “We just about sold out this year too – we had 154 attendees and we raised $1,013.00.”

The event featured characters from the 1939 motion picture the Wizard of Oz, along with the book entitled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900, by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books.

“I think the fundraiser went exceptionally well. I feel like each year, it becomes bigger and better,” said Dan Hickman, library board president. “I only ever got a brief glimpse at the tour groups because of how my skit was set up, but from those brief looks, it appears that we had solid attendance. The feedback I’ve heard was very positive, and the community really seems to enjoy these events. I’m very proud of the library staff and impressed with the hard work they put in to host events like this.”

Echoing Hickman’s statement is John Graham of Jamestown and a program participant.

“I brought my three kids to this event because it’s affordable and the library does a wonderful job of putting on this event each year. This year they knocked it out of the park.”

From left, Cassie Blakeslee, Board of Trustees secretary; Christine Zeitler, librarian; Kristie Bemis, library operations coordinator; Oliver Chenard, library associate; Terry Strieder, library associate; Andy Schmidt, volunteer; Danica Olson, outreach and programming manager and Dan Hickman, Board of Trustees president were the cast of the Prendergast Library’s third annual Haunting at the Library event, Saturday. P-J Photo by Christopher Blakeslee

For more information visit prendergastlibrary.org.