Woodridge Library Kicks Off Its 50th Birthday Year With Free Money and a Candy Wonderland

The New Year's fireworks might be dust and the champagne flat by now, but Woodridge Public Library doesn’t have any intention of stopping the party.

The library, which is celebrating its 50th birthday in 2017, is kicking off the golden anniversary next weekend with a Willy Wonka Golden Ticket event, in which anyone in town can visit the library — it will, of course, be transformed into a candy wonderland — for the chance to win a $50 Visa gift card.

The event will take place Saturday, Jan. 14 from 9 a,.m.-4 p.m., the village stated in a release. The original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder will be screened twice: once at 10 a.m. and again at 1 p.m. Fresh popcorn will be provided, and those Willy Wonka chocolate bars we mentioned? The ones with money hidden inside? They’re free for all guests. There will be five “winning” bars in the bunch.

Across the library, bins of retro candy, book and movie displays and trivia challenges will be scattered for attendees’ viewing pleasure and personal candy tours.

This fantasy land is only January’s treat, though. Library officials said there will be special events for the Woodridge community each month of 2017. They’re calling it the “Blizzard of Programs,” named after the Blizzard of 1967 — the year the library was established.

The grand anniversary party is slated for Saturday, April 22, and will be open to everyone.

The library is also updating several of its services for cardholders, the first being a music streaming site for WPL members. According to a release, members will be able to access and stream music to their computers, phones or tablets 24 hours a day, seven days a week without limits. The streaming website, run through Freegal, is up and running now and can be accessed with a password.

There’s a lot to look forward to this year at WPL. Here’s just a handful of what you’ll be seeing:

• Brain Fitness classes in January, where attendees will receive free, commemorative ice scrapers
• A Groundhog Day movie marathon in late January where guests will make and eat their own mini-blizzard ice cream treats
• Family board game afternoons
• Retro card game and Yahtzee nights in February, where the first 50 people to register will receive commemorative playing cards

Take a look at the library’s history page to learn more about its past five decades, or click here for historical photos.

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Photo courtesy of Flickr