SERVICE WITH A SMILE Library Assistant Ben Peery, happy to be back at work in Healdsburg. (Photo by Christian Kallen)
The crowd that gathered at the corner of Piper and Center on June 25 kept growing while the official opening ceremony for the remodeled library was conducted. It wasn’t that the ceremony itself was all that unusual—there were the expected library and city officials to give a few words each, a round of mutual thanks and a ribbon cutting.
What really drew the crowd was the library’s scheduled opening to the public at 10am. So it consisted of kids and moms and a few dads, grandparents and friends, many with armfuls of books to return, lining up to get inside for the first time since the downtown branch closed in August, 10 long months ago. Their intent was to drop off a book, to pick up a book on hold, to browse the stacks and breathe the gentle atmosphere of a library.
The modernization of Healdsburg’s library includes new carpet, paint, lighting, windows and of course room for books. Fanciful tree shapes and innovative reading cubbyholes surround the expanded Children’s Area. Adults can investigate extensive new shelving, and the Sonoma County Wine Library has expanded storage.
Based on the exclamations of surprise, pleasure and discovery that followed the crowd’s entrance to the remodeled library, the remodel was a success. Here are a few photographs from those opening minutes at the downtown branch Healdsburg Regional Library, 139 Piper St. (All photos below taken by Rich Tang)
LIBRARIAN Jon Haupt welcomes residents to the newly remodeled Healdsburg Library after 10 months of renovation.BIG MOMENT Library execs and employees, Healdsburg City Council and other react to the “ribbon cutting” of a book page chain.HERE THEY COME Curious residents of all ages came to see the remodeled Healdsburg Regional Library when it opened on June 25, 2025.CHATTING Andy Elkind, Healdsburg’s liaison to the Sonoma County Library Commission, chats with a friend on opening day. IN STRIDE Councilmember Ron Edwards visits the Healdsburg Library on its reopening date of June 25, to find new furnishings, carpet, paint and service areas.CONVERSATION The new lower bookshelves allow for informal conversations about books, CDs, videos and more at the Healdsburg Regional Library.PERUSAL Healdsburg City Councilmember Chris Herrod took his time reviewing the new layout of the library’s collection of hardbound and paperback books, books on CD, video and other media.MAGIC FOREST An unusual tree motif marks off the Children’s Area at the newly remodeled Healdsburg Regional Library on Piper Street.TRAIN TIME A youngster gets a lesson from her mom in how to put together the train tracks in the new Children’s Area.RECLINING READER Alexandra Reichel came prepared to the library’s opening day with her own copy of ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,’ and settled into one of the reading nooks in the Healdsburg Library.
BIBLIO BIKE The Sonoma County Library’s mobile book delivery vehicle finds a place to rest inside the Healdsburg Library.
