Posted December 27, 2025
Families gather at Glover Park in New Richmond, Wis., on Wednesday, Oct. 1, for the Friday Memorial Library’s final “Party in the Park.” The event featured live music, kids’ karaoke and a collaborative art project as the community prepares for the library’s upcoming move to a new location.
NEW RICHMOND, Wis. – The New Richmond Friday Memorial Library celebrated its final “Party in the Park” on Wednesday, Oct. 1. The event, held adjacent to the library at Glover Park, marked one last family-filled evening with live music, kids’ karaoke and an update on the new library construction.
Upon completion, the building will be the third location to host the library in the city’s history. It will also include an apartment complex. According to the Friday Memorial Library, the library’s first location was at the back of a drugstore owned by Bell Aldrich in the early 1890s. In 1963, the library moved to its present location across from City Hall on East First Street, thanks to a donation from Fritz Friday, in honor of his father, Carleton A. Friday.
Some library members shared what they will miss about the current location and what they look forward to as the new location opens. Library Board of Trustees member Patty Van Nevel said she will miss the library next to Glover Park along with the gatherings that have taken place at that location. “It’s very home county, community,” she said. “I remember when this library opened, I was like in elementary school. And when we moved here, man it felt like we were in heaven. It has served its purpose well, and we’re all happy we’re getting a brand new one with so much more useful things for everyone in the community.”
Susan Keskinen, President of the Friends of the Library, shared similar sentiments. “What I will miss is the fact that the physical library here looks so charming and inviting,” she said. “What I will like about the new library is that it will have so much more space for reading, for having materials out for people to know what is available at the library.”
A vendor was also present to help with a collaborative art piece for the new library. “We’re doing a bookcase full of book spines,” said Kelly Anderson, representing her Crayon Kelly Experience business. “And everybody from the picnic today is able to paint one of the book spines and it will be finished, and this’ll be hanging in the (new) library.”
Library Director Monica LaVold and City Administrator Noah Wiedenfeld provided an update on the new library’s construction.
“The library has meant such a great deal to so many people in our community and we have people tell us all the time about the way they feel about it,” LaVold said. “So, our goal and commitment to you as our patrons [is] that we will move forward in this new building committed to carrying our values and practices and that our new space will be recognized as warm and welcoming and friendly and kind. Because that will go with us as we step into our new building.”
Wiedenfeld said the project has been in discussion since the late 1990s. “There’s been different consultants, engineers. Do we add on to this building? Do we buy land somewhere else? Do we remodel an existing building? And we really wanted to take a different approach because we knew the need wasn’t going to go away and the cost wasn’t going down.”
The new library will feature 12 designated meeting rooms, four public bathrooms and a public parking lot, according to Wiedenfeld. He also said that a second Jewelltown Roastery will open inside the location once the construction is complete. The coffee shop currently operates just north of New Richmond in the village of Star Prairie.
Wiedenfeld said the library is on track to open this coming winter, while the apartment complex is expected to be fully open in early November.
The article may be found online at https://uwrfjournalism.org/2025/12/new-richmond-library-hosts-final-party-in-the-park-ahead-of-winter-relocation/.