We’re all accustomed to political forums and reading events for children and teens, historical and cultural displays and movie nights at the Anderson County Library. The wealth of material it offers is incalculable, through thousands of books, in addition to books on tape and CD, computers for the public’s use, movies to take home and enjoy and the multiple rooms where members of the community can gather — for free — to discuss ways to make the community better.

On Sunday, Oct. 12, the Anderson County Library System will celebrate its 50th anniversary at the Main Library with a birthday party that harkens back to the 1950s. According to Marybeth Evans, the library community services coordinator, in 1957, a referendum passed making the Anderson branch the main library of a countywide system. The Anderson County Library System was officially born on Oct. 1, 1958. (Anderson’s first public library was established 50 years earlier.)

Over the years since, branches were established in Belton, Honea Path, Williamston, Pelzer, Pendleton, Piedmont, Iva, Powdersville and the Westside Community Center.

On Oct. 12, the main library site will feature a classic car show with vehicles of the 1950s and 60s. An ice cream social will feature lemonade and Mayfield ice cream. (Mayfield Dairy Farms is sponsoring the event.) The history of the system and its branches will be featured in a display. There will be a hula-hoop contest, hopscotch and pin the tail on the donkey.

A river birch tree will be planted on the library grounds by the Anderson Garden Club.

In an editorial on Feb. 21, we wrote:

“But more important than all the extras we can find in a public library is our thought that its reason for being is to nurture a love of reading, a desire to learn, to create, to experience things that are only available to us through the written word. There are no class distinctions, no differences in us at all, no rich, no poor, within its walls.”

Mark Oct. 12 on your calendar to celebrate that — and more.