Friends of Samuels Library’s ‘Pop Up Pop’ Fundraiser Cited as Enthusiastic Success as over $2,000 Raised for Operations

Royal Examiner contacted newly installed Friends of Samuels Library (FOSL) President Sydney Patton about the Library’s “Pop Up Pop” fundraising event this past Saturday. Patton, who officially took her FOSL office this Monday, July 7, gave us this overview of an event that appears poised to become an annual one, if morphing a bit as it heads towards its second year.

“The Friends of Samuels Library held their first media/pop culture-themed sale on July 5th. The event drew in over 100 patrons, including local business owners, public figures, and community members of all ages. Nine new FOSL memberships were purchased or renewed. We had three business sponsors – Admiral’s Analog in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, donated a $30 gift card for our raffle. White Picket Fence donated a groovy essential oil lamp and Downtown Local donated lunch for our door prizes for a total of 5 raffle items, and 5 door prizes (one every hour),” Patton noted.

This community is rallying behind its 501 (c) (3) non-profit provider of public library services despite the efforts of a distinct minority of citizens, including 4 of 5 currently seated supervisors, Cullers the exception, who did NOT run for election on any anti-library issues they now personally support. Below, let’s spin that FOSL wheel for a door prize to add to our collection. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini unless otherwise noted.

“The process started back in March, the same week that the Board of Supervisors voted to not renew the contract with Samuels Public Library. Unfortunately, the original donation that sparked the idea became unavailable, so the event was expanded from just music to all pop culture. Over the next three-and-a-half months the community donations poured in,” Patton told us.

That momentum threatened some logistical issues for available Samuel Library space for the event at which pop culture artifacts of all kinds, from classic vinyl albums to books, posters, and items of every aspect of pop culture over the past 80-plus years, as illustrated below.

Two perspectives on patrons perusing pop culture items for purchase. Courtesy Photos Chris Estes, thanks Chris.

“Originally the event was planned for Meeting Room B, but it became clear days before the event that we’d outgrown that room, we were planning on spilling into the cafe area. Luckily Meeting Room A became available and we had the whole space.

“We had 13 volunteers give 100+ hours over two days to help setup, run, and tear down the event. We couldn’t have done it without them, we are extremely grateful!” Patton enthused of the community response to this new event.

“One patron thanked us for the trip down memory lane. She went on to explain how much it tickled her that the younger generations are discovering stuff from her youth. Another patron made a point to say he was skeptical about what this would be and if it would have good stuff, but he said it was fantastic. It far exceeded his expectations,” Patton said of two examples of the initial positive feedback on the Pop Up Pop event.

And a final look at objects on display for purchase before checking out, including vinyl Pop classics from multiple eras from Huey Lewis and the News to Led Zeppelin to Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, and Nat King Cole, and an interstellar array of Classical Music composers.

And then there were the numbers:

In one day, Pop Up Pop raised $2,015.22. The items that didn’t sell will be filtered into the Epilogue Book Store, added to the annual book sale at the end of September, and some might even be held for next year,” the FOSL president told us, adding with an eye forward, “We are excited to announce that next year, June 2026 our Pop event will be back and with another fun name, “Now that’s what we call Pop!”  It’ll be bigger, longer and even more of a party! We’ll start collecting donations for it at the end of January.

“Thanks to the community for their support, the funds raised here will be used towards FOSL’s mission to help Samuels Library continue to offer library services to the community,” Patton concluded of the library’s existing situation of non-funding of $1.024-million appropriated on the County side for Fiscal Year-2026 toward public library funding.

See recent Board of Supervisor “Local Government” stories and our Opinion page Letters to the Editor section for more background on the evolution of that 2-plus year situation. It should be noted that Samuels Public Library’s partnership with local government dates by name to the 1950s and by State approval as, if we read correctly, what appears to have been an independent library provider partnering with local government to 1799.