Final Thoughts on "Lafayette 200"

What a celebration we've had!

It takes a community to successfully plan and deliver a community event. Kudos to Lise Sundria of Historic Beaufort Foundation who coordinated the heck out of a lot of historically minded folks and organizations to pull this off.

Thank goodness it was a once in a lifetime event - for me at least. Cassandra and Sydney are considerably younger than me so they have a good chance to be alive with the 225th anniversary of Lafayette's visit comes around. And yes, we've kept notes so that the celebration will be well documented in our LAFAYETTE, MARQUIS DE vertical file. And yes, I made a pitch for the archive of this community event to eventually become part of the BDC's archival collections. We'll see where that goes in the next few months or year. I have no doubt that when the 225th anniversary rolls around, organizers will ask whoever is in charge of the BDC about what the Library has about what happened on Tuesday, March 18, 2025.

"Lafayette 200" in Beaufort may be done and dusted but we would be quite remiss not to mention all the help we got from the Beaufort Branch and Bookmobile Services preparing for the BIG DAY. I'd like to name names of those who have really helped me plan this venture: Library Director, Amanda Dickman, who said "yes;" and Kathleen McTeer and Cheryl Graffo came aboard early with Beaufort Branch manager Stacey Inman's nod to our adventure. The artistically inclined Mackenzie Goodman and Katharine Argall also at Beaufort Branch drew Lafayette 200 themed designs for the embroidery class and coloring sheets. Alyssa Krob shared flyers for us to distribute about Creativebug, made "Lafayette e-books" and "Lafayette audio-books" lists for Hoopla and gave us some DISCUS promotional items to give away at the Street Fair. Fiona Johnson of Port Royal Branch and Robyn Allen of Technical Services donated embroidery floss and needles to us to use at the adult crafting session.

The Friends of the Beaufort Library - which helps out Beaufort Branch, St. Helena Branch, Lobeco Branch, Port Royal Branch, Bookmobile Services, and the BDC - helped fund the purchase of supplies for our Adult and Children craft sessions.

My staff, the amazing Cassandra Knoppel and the astounding Sydney Whiteside, helped in many and myriad ways. We bounced ideas back and forth for months; they made fun of me from time to time when I was getting too deeply into the weeds - not seeing the forest for the trees; but they never gave me anything other than their very best. Cassandra took on some of my regular duties so that I could devote time to plan programs, attend committee meetings, and write social media for this project. Sydney designed "Lafayette 200" bookmarks - adult and youth versions - and a Lafayette materials flyer for us to distribute during the Street Fair. I could not have done this without their hands, hearts and minds.

Stacey Inman, Shaquiella Holmes, Ryan Easterbrooks, and Cheryl Graffo helped Cassandra, Sydney and me staff our table during the Street Fair portion. Allison Reeves, who's responsible for the bookmobiles, lent very practical logistical support and supplies. (She let us borrow her wagon (yeah!) - which was a tremendous help hauling our "stuff" to the Street Fair back and forth. She also took some of our leftover program flyers, coloring sheets, etc. on her routes - north and south of the Broad this week so that the celebration can go on for a bit longer.) Library Marketing shared some of their give-aways (pens, pencils, stickers) for our table.

We are grateful for the kindness and skills of Jade Weaver who showed us how to embroider our white handkerchiefs to wave during the parade; and to the Material Girls of the Sea Island Quilting Guild who helped us make a quilt square on March 12th in anticipation of the General's arrival. Kathleen McTeer and Shaquiella Holmes ran the children's crafts - making an 1825 American flag on one afternoon; and playing games and making toys from the early 19th century on March 12th.

From the bottom of my itty bitty heart, thank you to all who helped make this a successful Library community outreach activity. 'Tis good to have such talented and generous colleagues at Beaufort County Library.