By KATIE GUERIN / Community Columnist

This past weekend the Mt Laurel community held its annual Spring Festival featuring dozens of vendors. Delicious food, unique craft items and children’s clothing dominated the offerings.

The town streets were packed with visitors of all ages and several furry friends.

The festival was an opportunity for Mt Laurel to demonstrate the wonderful sense of community and family-friendly atmosphere that has attracted so many residents to the Dunnavant Valley area.

I had the honor of helping out with one of the mainstays of the festival: the used book sale run by the Friends of the Mt Laurel Public Library.

The dedicated members of the Friends group have spent the past several years fundraising to build a permanent location for the library.

Earl Perkins, an avid reader and supporter of the project, spent his entire day working the book sale. He said, “There are few things more important in our lives as parents and leaders as education, and there are few foundations more important to that education than reading.” Libraries represent the ‘keepers of the flame’ for citizens of all ages, and particularly our young. I wanted to volunteer for the book sale for the Mt Laurel library because I recognize that importance, and we are willing to do what we can to make our new library a reality for the future.

Currently, the Mt Laurel library is in a temporary location at 33 Olmsted Street and is quickly outgrowing its cozy space. The current goal for the building fund is $250,000, and the Friends recently crossed the halfway point and have raised more than $137,000.

The library will be a branch of the North Shelby Library and included in the Harrison Regional Library system. Any Shelby County library card holder can use the library.

Katie Guerin can be reached by email at katie.guerin@gmail.com.