Library to Celebrate County Bicentennial With Exhibit, Reading

In celebration of the County’s bicentennial, Tompkins County Public Library will offer after-hours access to Mapping Tompkins, a commemorative community art project, and a dramatic reading of County Historian Carol Kammen’s original piece, “Nine Towns and a City,” Friday, May 5 from 5 to 8 p.m., during Downtown Ithaca’s Gallery Night.

Through illustrated maps created by more than 50 county residents, Mapping Tompkins showcases—for this and future generations--what it means to live, work and study in Tompkins County. Participants were asked to design pre-printed Tompkins County maps to reflect the places important to their lives—from where to get the best ice cream to where they met their spouse. The exhibit will be on display through June.

At 6 p.m. in the BorgWarner Community Room, members of the Tompkins County Bicentennial Commission and County Legislator Rich John will read Kammen’s “Nine Towns and a City.” This fascinating, light-hearted reading attempts to tell-- with humor and a bit of irony--how the pieces of the geographic puzzle were connected to form Tompkins County.

Gallery Night access to Mapping Tompkins and the reading of “Nine Towns and a City” is free and open to the public. After-hours entry to the Library will be available through the BorgWarner Community Room door, adjacent to TCAT’s East Green Street bus shelter.

For more information about Library exhibits, contact TCPL Exhibit Coordinator Yvette Rubio at yrubio@tcpl.org. To learn more about Tompkins County’s Bicentennial, visit http://www.tompkinscountyny.gov/tc200.