Richards Free Library

Engage, Enrich, Entertain

Newport NH

2025 Library Festival!

The Library Festival Book Sale is on August 23rd!

Don’t miss our famous annual Library Festival with its huge book sale, raffles, cookie walk, giant bubbles, children’s craft, and face painting!
Right across the road from the giant Apple Pie Craft Fair, the Book Sale opens at 8am for members only, and 9am for everyone else. Stock up on books for the year at incredibly low prices! Teachers get books half-price starting at 1pm with their school ID. Everyone gets books for 1$ a bag starting at 2pm!
Fun for the whole family! Children will love getting their face painted, trying our free craft, and enjoying our famous giant bubbles! Come early to do the “cookie walk” to fill a bag with cookies before they sell out!
The Library Festival has been hosted by the Friends of the Richards Free Library in Newport NH for well over 50 years. The whole community pitches in to help put together this huge event, from Friends volunteers who spend hours sorting books, to local sports teams who help move books and tables, to the community sponsors. Thank you all for your incredible support!
This year will look a little different! The library is reseeding the grass on the giant side lawn after getting trees taken down over the winter, so the event will take place in the parking lot! The library will still be open during their Saturday hours of 10am-2pm, so folks can cool off in the AC, have a rest, or use the facilities.
Look for the special pre-sale event, new this year, called Books and Brews Preview Night, August 22nd 5pm-7:30pm. $25 tickets will buy you access to the preview-sale to get an exclusive first chance to buy books, as well as two drink tickets, with beer provided by Rockingham Brewery West.
For more information or to volunteer to bake cookies or help with the event, please email friends@newport.lib.nh.us

Project R.A.B.B.I.T. Read Aloud Night!

On May 29th at 5:00pm, join the library and the Richards School PTO for an evening of family fun, celebrating reading and literacy! Discover the old Newport tradition called Project RABBIT– which stands for Read A Book Because It’s Terrific. Special guests from the community like Fire Chief Yannuzzi will join us to read aloud some picture books, and the Richards PTO will bring snacks!

Bring a book or two to trade at our gently used Book Swap– it’s a great way to trade books your child has outgrown for something at their new level to keep challenging them to keep reading! Invite your kid’s friends’ families to meet you here, so the kids can be surrounded by friends as we all celebrate how important books, reading, and literacy are to us!

The Richards Free Library receives New Hampshire Humanities Grant for Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs presentation!

NEWPORT- The Richards Free Library has received a grant from New Hampshire Humanities to present Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs. Fabergé Imperial Easter Eggs will be presented on Monday, April 7th at 4:30pm in the Ballroom of the Richards Free Library.

This unique and beautifully illustrated presentation focuses on the life and remarkable work of master jeweler and artist, Peter Carl Fabergé. The program features a spectacular photo-tour of Fabergé collections at world-famous museums and from private collectors around the world. Emphasis is on the important role of egg painting in Slavic culture and on the unique development of this major art form from a traditional craft to the level of exquisite fine art under the patronage of the tsars. The fascinating history of these eggs and their role in the dramatic events of the last decades of Romanov rule in Russia and in the years following the Bolshevik Revolution will also be discussed.

This Program is Free and open to the public. There is no pre-registration.

New Hampshire Humanities nurtures the joy of learning and inspires community engagement by bringing life-enhancing ideas from the humanities to the people of New Hampshire. They connect people with ideas. Learn more at www.nhhumanities.org.

For more information, contact Marina Forbes at  marina@marinaforbes.com, or at 603-332-2255.