Samuels Public Library set to host Around the World in 80 Days fundraiser

FRONT ROYAL – Step into Samuels Public Library Saturday, April 29, and you’ll be entering another time and place for a few wondrous hours as the Sixth Annual Taste for Books event gets underway.  The event is the library’s only fundraiser and also a much-anticipated event where attendees can sample tasty foods and beverages that relate to selected books, or the continents in which they are set.  This year’s theme borrows from French novelist Jules Verne’s adventurous tale Around the World in Eighty Days.

In that classic tale, main character Phileas Fogg, an eccentric inventor living in Victorian England, accepted a challenge from a fellow inventor to travel around the world in 80 days.  The library at 330 E. Criser Road in Front Royal will be transformed into 1889, with continents set up in different areas throughout the library.

Samuel’s Director Nicki Lynch says tables will be hosted by various civic groups, book clubs and individuals who will provide a themed food and dessert that complements the book or continent which they are representing.  The table hosts will also dress in period costume or native garb that matches the continent.

Everyone attending gets a passport stamped along the way.  To be eligible for the grand prize drawing at the end of the evening, the guest must have had it stamped in each continent.  Those attending the event can also vote on best table display, best food and best costumes, Lynch added.

She said that in addition to table hosts providing themed food, 10 area restaurants will be offering up food with an international theme.  Beer and wine has been specially ordered for the event, and includes varieties that one would not find in the Shenandoah Valley.  She said that the adult beverages available for sampling would include “a little something from all corners of the world!”

2016 Taste of Books attendees had fun at the Clue board game-themed event. Courtesy photo

A silent auction will be part of the evening’s fun and includes “big-ticket” items such as a Club Med vacation page, a Fender Sound system valued at over $1,000, Southwest Airline tickets and many more items.

“We want people who have not been to the library before to come,” she said, “It’s just a really fun time for everyone.”

The 2017 Taste for Books will be held at 6 p.m. April 29 in the Samuels Public Library. In preparation for the event, the library will be closed to the public on Saturday.  Information regarding tickets, which are $50 each, or 5/$200 (a 20% discount) auction items and vendors for the event can be found at TasteforBooks.net.