Friends of the Washougal Community Library bring art of storytelling to city

A local nonprofit organization is bringing the art of storytelling to Washougal.

The Friends of the Washougal Community Library group will hold “One Story At a Time,” an event to raise funds for Fort Vancouver Regional Library’s new Washougal library facility, at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 4, at Washougal High School’s Washburn Auditorium.

The event will feature narrative storytelling and poetry readings as well as a musical performance, magic show and silent auction.

Friends of the Washougal Community Library President Cindy O’Mealy said having strong community support for the new library construction project helps the group when it applies for grants.

“This is one way to get the message out to people as well as have an entertaining evening,” O’Mealy said.

Scheduled performers include:

• Susan Dingle, a Washougal resident and Clark County’s poet laureate
• Roni Sasaki of Washougal, a 1992 Paralympic gold medal winner
• Elizabeth Moss, branch manager at the Three Creeks Community Library in Vancouver
• Julie Sparling, a co-presenter for the Poetry Street PNW open-mic program at the Camas Public Library
• Ian Beaty, an author and employment trainer specializing in employee recruiting and retention strategies
• My-Yin “Molly” Chen, a keynote speaker, writer, musician and entrepreneur whose work has been featured on Amazon, Etsy and Inc.com
• Stephano Iaboni, the founder of Smile Solution, LLC.

“(Attendees) will hear personal stories or an experience that the storyteller had,” O’Mealy said. “They work on their stories for about six weeks before they get on stage. It’s not like they’re just sharing a story that happened yesterday. They really do perfect it. And through the National Speaker Association, they have a mentor who helps them to make the story even better and appealing for the audience.”

O’Mealy, a retired reading specialist who taught storytelling to elementary school students, said she believes preserving oral storytelling is critical in the digital age.

“We’re really getting away from it, and I think that storytelling is really an important part of being a human,” O’Mealy said. “We cannot lose that as we progress with AI and everything else. I just think that there needs to be a balance. And since we’re Friends of the Washougal Community Library, storytelling just seemed to be a good fit.”

FVRLibraries plans to construct an $11 million, 13,000-square-foot library building in downtown Washougal. It has committed a little over $4 million to the project, and the FVRL Foundation has contributed $165,000 while raising $535,000 for “additional committed funds,” according to the FVRLibraries website. The Friends of the Washougal Library group has raised $300,000, leaving a gap of about $5.9 million.

According to FVRLibraries, the vision is to someday “create a library that is welcoming, cozy, and inspirational — a library that strengthens the downtown experience of Washougal, reflecting its climate, landscape and culture while remaining flexible to the future needs and aspirations of the community.”

The Friends group has increased the number of fundraising activities in recent months, according to O’Mealy, who credited local residents and businesses, such as Danglicious Vietnamese Kitchen, for supporting the cause.

“People are willing to give their time and effort to this cause of wanting a new library in Washougal,” she said. “This land has been donated to us, and we only have a few years to get the money for this to happen. In the meantime, we are writing grants, and that’s another reason why we’re doing these smaller events: to show that our community is backing us in this big project.”

Tickets to the June 4 fundraising event cost $20 for adults and $10 for children and may be purchased online at bit.ly/4jC5w82. Tickets also will be sold at the door on the night of the event.

For more information, visit washougallibraryfriends.org.