I do love our library, which is why I was happy to attend Tuesday night’s annual meeting-slash-party for the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library. It was fabulous: they not only recapped a year’s worth of business in one evening, very efficiently, but they also encouraged everyone to tour the art gallery on the second floor. The gallery is currently featuring items from Special Collections in honor of the 100^th anniversary of Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House as a museum. So we got to see things like pictures of Louisa May sitting at her writing desk, and the ink well she used to write her books. There’s a lot more really cool stuff, as well as historical information, and it all has to do with a famous author who lived right here in our town. Anyone can wander up there and check it out, so next time you’re in the library checking out books, go upstairs and check out the cool Louisa May Alcott exhibit.

Side note: as part of the Louisa May celebration, the library is hosting a continuous reading of her book, Little Women, from May 18-20. They can still use readers, in 10 to 15 minute time slots; contact Karen Ahern at the library to sign up.

The Friends also served two delicious, homemade cakes, and honestly I have a policy of never saying no to cake, which comes in handy when the cakes are as good as these were.

If you’re not a Friend, you really should consider joining, and not just because of the cake: this cool group raises money that supports the many programs that enhance our already awesome library. Programs like museum passes, movie nights, and author talks. In fact, their next fundraiser is their immensely popular book sale on June 2, and they can use many hands to pull this off, so feel free to contact them if you can give an hour or two to help out. You don’t have to be a member to volunteer, though membership costs as little as $15. And then at next year’s annual meeting, you’ll get to eat cake, too.

Theater al fresco

If you like theater and you love the outdoors, our high school is giving you the unique opportunity to blend the two with Shakespeare in the CCHS courtyard. CCPOPS will present “Romeo and Juliet” next weekend, May 18, 19 and 20. You can buy your tickets online at www.ccpops.org for $11, or at the door for $10. You do need to bring your own chair or blanket, and they encourage you to bring a picnic and some bug spray – the bug spray is for you, not the picnic, just to be clear. You can find the courtyard around the back of the school, near the driveway to the soccer fields. There really is nothing like sitting under the stars being entertained by the bard.

Rare sighting

We apparently had an unusual visitor in Concord recently: a wood turtle was spotted over by Elm Brook. Wood turtles are pretty small – only 5.5 to 7.9 inches, according to Wikipedia – and are on the state’s list of Species of Special Concern. I’m guessing this is a step above endangered. According to the Town Manager’s report, this one was taken to Tufts Veterinary School because it was having respiratory issues, which of course leads one to ask, how did they know that?? Was it breathing heavily, or shallowly? And how could one tell – does the shell go up and down? At any rate, it will apparently be fitted with a radio transmitter so it can be tracked after it’s released back into the wild, I suppose so that it can be picked up for its follow-up doctor visit.

Well, that’s all the fun I have to tell you about for now. Check out Maureen’s column next Tuesday for the next round of About Town. That is, if she makes it back from New Orleans and all that jazz.

Do you have something you would like to share? Contact me at stefanieac@comcast.net or Maureen at mcb23@comcast.net, and we will be happy to help you spread the good news. And follow us on Twitter: Maureen is @cosmo1162, I’m @stefanie3131.