The I Love My Library Gala | Altamont Free Library

The I Love My Library Gala is back and tickets are on sale now!

Please join us Saturday, May 30th from 5:30pm to 9pm at the Flowers & Fine Arts Building on the Altamont Fairgrounds to support the work of Altamont Free Library and to honor a beloved member of the Altamont Community, former Altamont Community Tradition President Laura Shore!

Attendees will enjoy passed hors d’oeuvres, catering stations provided by Maisie’s Catering, a cash bar by Allied Brewing, as well as homemade desserts and a silent auction in the beautiful and historic Flowers & Fine Arts Building on the Altamont Fairgrounds. Tickets are $100 per person.

Membership in the Honorary Committee includes your ticket to the gala, where you will enjoy everything mentioned above, and your name will be prominently displayed on posters at the event, as well as on the evening’s printed program. Honorary Committee membership is $125 per person.

Please note that there will not be assigned seating for the evening’s event, in order to encourage attendees to mix and mingle with your friends, neighbors, and fellow library supporters. A limited number of tables and seats will be reserved for friends with mobility concerns. If you are attending and would like to reserve a seat at one of those tables, please call the library at (518) 861-7239 or email us at Director@AltamontFreeLibrary.org.

Our sponsors for the 2026 Gala are:

Additional sponsors are most welcome! Please find more details about sponsorship opportunities here.

Many thanks are due to our Gala Committee: Rebecca Curtin, Christine Goldberg, Raelee Grimm, Nicole Robinson, Joleen Rockhill, Leanne Royer, Amanda Stygar, Yvette Terplak, Cortnee Whipple and Joe Burke. Additional thanks to Maisie’s Catering, Allied Brewing, Heather Moulder, Amy Anderson and the staff of the Altamont Fair, and Diana Greene of Remedies for their invaluable assistance.

For more information please call the Altamont Free Library at (518) 429-8354 or email Joe Burke at Director@AltamontFreeLibrary.org.

Thank you for your generous support.

Gala FAQ

What should I wear?

Well, I suppose nobody ever regrets wearing a nice cardigan. If you want to be a little fancier, go for it. Not too fancy. Just make sure you’re comfortable. No tuxedos. Take a look at some of the good looking folks from the 2024 Gala for some inspo: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DunE8SeJH/

Some people will probably be wearing rhinestones and cowboy hats, but that’s definitely not necessary.

Why will some people be dressed in rhinestones?

In honor of Dolly, of course.
This year’s Gala theme is “Reading 9 to 5” in honor of that patron saint of both style and literacy, Dolly Parton!

Beehive wigs are optional, obviously.

Where should I park?

The Flowers & Fine Arts Building is located near the Grand Street entrance to the Altamont Fair. Please use the Grand Street entrance and follow signs to the parking area on the grass midway. (This may change if we get a whole bunch of rain this week, but that’s the plan at this point.) Please see the map below.

Where are the restrooms?

The restrooms are located on either side of the Grand Street entrance to the Fair, a short walk away from the Flowers & Fine Arts Building. Again, please see the map below.

Will there be reserved seats?

In order to accommodate as many guests as possible and in order to encourage people to move around and mingle, we’re only reserving specific seats or tables for people with mobility concerns. Many of you already have! If you haven’t reserved a seat yet but would like to, or you’re not sure whether you have or not, please call us at (518) 861-7239 or email Joe Burke at Director@AltamontFreeLibrary.org. If you don’t have a reserved seat, there will still be open tables and there will be plenty of places for folks to sit, stand, walk around, and mingle!

What will there be to eat?

We are very pleased to welcome back Maisie’s Catering for this year’s Gala! Like last year, we won’t be having a sit down dinner. Instead there will be passed hors d’oeuvres, a pasta station, carving station and a BBQ station situated throughout the building. There will be several options available for attendees with gluten sensitivities, as well as other dietary requirements. Here’s what they’ll be offering:

Charcuterie & Crudité Table
Hand Passed Hors D’Ouvres
BBQ Station: Pulled pork, mac & cheese, chips & dip and more
Pasta Station: Variety of pastas & sauces, focaccia bread
Mashed Potato Bar with fried chicken sliders.

We’ll also have a variety of homemade desserts donated for the evening. If you’d like to contribute a dessert, please let us know!

What will there be to drink?

Our friends at Allied Brewing will be providing a cash bar with beer and wine from 6pm until 8pm, and we will have iced tea, lemonade and water available throughout the evening. Outside alcoholic beverages are not permitted at the Gala.

Will there be a silent auction this year?

This year, we have an amazing assortment of silent auction items that have been donated by library supporters. We are still looking for additions, so if you are a business manager or have an item or work of art that may work well in a silent auction, please reach out to us at (518) 861-7239 or email Joe Burke at Director@AltamontFreeLibrary.org.

As at past galas, we will also have a mystery wine pull, where attendees can pull a drawer from an antique library card catalog, and enjoy the bottle they find when they get home!

Donations, auction purchases, and wine pulls may be paid for at the end of the evening by check or credit card.

Is there by any chance going to be a big group singalong at the end of the night?

What a strange and, as it turns out, pertinent question! Yes there will be so you might consider brushing up on the lyrics to “Working 9 to 5″!

What if I can’t make it?

We’ll be sad not to have you with us, but we’ll try to have fun without you.

If you’ve purchased tickets but are not able to join us, please email Joe Burke at Director@AltamontFreeLibrary.org as soon as you’re able to. If you’d like, we’ll be happy to refund the cost of your tickets or keep it as a donation to the library as you prefer.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please get in touch at (518) 861-7239 or by email at Director@AltamontFreeLibrary.org. We can’t thank you enough for all of your generous support, and we look forward to seeing you all at the I Love My Library Gala this Saturday!