Olympia library’s Biblioball becomes a multigenerational event

You know those movies where the shy librarian removes her glasses and lets down her hair to reveal her true beauty?

The Olympia Timberland Regional Library will undergo a similar transformation — becoming a beautiful ballroom for Saturday’s BiblioBall.

“We’ll have lights and a gorgeous chandelier,” said Mary Rulewicz, who organizes the event with fellow youth services librarian Sara White.

Other highlights include crafts for children and adults, refreshments, dancing and music by the Lincoln Options Parent Band, which plays folk and traditional songs plus such covers as The Beatles “Yellow Submarine.”

The ball also is an opportunity to pull your own Cinderella act.

“People are encouraged to dress up like their favorite classic literary character, or they can just dress up for fun,” White said.

In other words, just about anything goes: formal wear, favorite outfits and all-out costumes. Last year, when the loose theme was history, one couple dressed as Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, while Rulewicz opted to play Mary Poppins.

This year Rulewicz plans to dress as the stripe-clad title character from the children’s book series “Where’s Waldo,” and White is considering dressing as a character from Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.”

“I have the perfect dress for it,” she said.

The library staff sets up a photo booth to commemorate the occasion and invites those who’ve dressed up to participate in a fashion show.

“We bring everyone together and everyone who’s dressed up can walk down the runway and show off,” White said.

Although the library’s youth services department is spearheading the event, the ball, which last year drew 180 people, is intended for all ages.

“It’s mostly families, but we get everyone in the family, so we’ll have everything from babies to grandparents,” White said. “And we get people without kids. We’ve had Evergreen students come, and I know someone who came last year on a first date.”

“The last couple of years, we’ve had a group of seniors come and they loved the opportunity to get dressed up in their gowns,” Rulewicz said. “We love that.”

The multigenerational library ball is, so far as the librarians know, unique to Olympia.

Though the ball doesn’t have a holiday theme, the December timing is deliberate.

“We want people to take a break from shopping and stress and come to this wonderful free event,” Rulewicz said.

This story was originally published December 15, 2016 at 2:07 AM with the headline "Olympia library’s Biblioball becomes a multigenerational event."