NORWAY — The library will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Friends of the Norway Memorial Library with a “Silver Bells” party on Friday.

The public is invited to attend the celebration, which will include entertainment and refreshments, beginning at 6 p.m. Dec. 7. This year the Note-a-Belles, a sextet of local women singers, will perform.

Library Director Beth Kane said the party has been hosted by Friends of the Norway Memorial Library for the past several years.

The group was formed 25 years ago to promote public awareness of the library's vital role in the community and to help strengthen its resources, and enhance its services to all users, Kane said.

“They are a very active and well organized group,” she said.

The group does a variety of activities, including organizing volunteers to prepare library mailings, maintaining gardens in the spring and summer, raking leaves in the fall and preparing refreshments for programs and events.

Additionally, Kane said, the group publishes and distributes a library newsletter three times a year, holds a book sale during the Norway Arts Festival, and funds the library’s video and audio collection. It also contributed to the Maine InfoNet Download Library’s collection of eBooks.

Kane said the group makes special purchases to support library programs and services such as an LCD projector for library use, a parking lot book drop box and construction and installation of the library’s circulation desk.

The group has also purchased community passes for the Portland Museum of Art, the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray and the Maine State Museum, enabling library cardholders to attend free or at reduced rates. The group hosts library programs, receptions to thank volunteers and the annual holiday party.

Anyone interested in attending should call the library at 743-5309, ext. 1, or visit the library’s information desk and let organizers know what finger food they will bring.

ldixon@sunjournal.com