FONTANA - Thousands of people flocked Saturday to Fontana's Civic Center for the grand opening of the city's lavish $65 million public library, which elected officials lauded as both a grand repository of books and a catalyst for the reinvigoration of the city's downtown.
The two-story, 93,000-square- foot Lewis Library & Technology Center at 8437 Sierra Ave., next to Fontana City Hall, is the biggest branch in the San Bernardino County Library system.
The city supplied the land and paid much of its construction costs, and received $14.9 million in state bond funds.
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Ramon Mena Owens / The Press-Enterprise
Big crowds arrived for Saturday's opening of the Lewis Library & Technology Center on Sierra Avenue in downtown Fontana. The two-story, 93,000-square-foot facility is the biggest branch in the San Bernardino County Library system.
But it's the $15.3 million in private donations, collected in an ambitious fundraising campaign, that best demonstrated the public's enthusiastic support for a full-service library to meet the needs of Fontana's burgeoning population.
Fontana kindergartner Michael Holcomb, caught up in the day's festive spirit, decided to join the library's long list of financial benefactors.
Moments after Mayor Mark Nuaimi and a gaggle of city, county and state officials cut a big red ribbon, the 6-year-old cornered former Police Chief Larry Clark, president of the Fontana Library Foundation, to give him a donation.
The two crouched next to the courtyard fountain and counted out $3.36 in nickels, dimes, quarters and one penny.
Michael's grandmother, Ann Knickerbocker, said he earned the money doing household chores.
"I just love the library so much!" Michael said, gesturing excitedly.
Fontana resident Juliet Hudson was equally thrilled.
"It's awesome! I'll be here every week," she said, perusing the shelves on the second floor.
"When you come here, you just don't want to leave," said Hudson, who brought her 10-year-old son, Kevin Jackson. "You feel at home."
At the former Fontana library branch, downtown on Valencia Avenue, they often had trouble finding the books on Kevin's "accelerated reading" list for school.
No worries anymore -- the fourth-grader said he also hoped to check out some books from the "Lemony Snicket: A Series of Unfortunate Events" children's series.
Large, Patient Throng
Library officials and Fontana police couldn't pinpoint how many people came out for the day-long celebration, noting only that they expected a crowd of 10,000.
Visitors jammed the entire parking area east of the building's entrance and spilled onto a grassy hillside between the library and neighboring Miller Park during an hour of local politicians' speeches.
Then, as the carillon bells on the library's clock tower chimed 11 o'clock, confetti cannons fired purple, yellow and green streamers into the air and it was finally time to fling open the doors.
Because police and city employees restricted entry into the building to about 50 people at a time, more than two hours after the opening the line still snaked all the way back to the park.
But the crowd waited patiently, and once inside each visitor received a commemorative green tote bag.
Fontana optometrist Dr. Doug Leo brought assistant Natalie Padilla after they finished the day's appointments.
"We've been watching (the library) go up, since our office is across the street," Leo said at 1:30 p.m. as they waited in the long line.
Sign Me Up!
The day's biggest attraction -- beyond the 203 computers, which all seemed to have a child or teenager attached -- were the long lines to get a library card. All around the building, youths and adults huddled at tables filling out the required form and then queued up to give them to red-shirted clerks.
Leonard Hernandez, the library's regional manager, said he wouldn't know until Monday how many cards were issued, or how many materials visitors checked out Saturday.
But a large number of those new patrons are Fontana resident Juana Reyes' grandchildren. In the children's section, Brittany, Berenice, Angel and Destiny Espinoza and their cousins Brandon, Jonathan and Bryan Zeron all signed up for library cards.
"We've never been to a library before," said Berenice, 12.
Fontana sixth-grader Kayla Barrett, 11, was especially impressed by the "technology" portion of the library's name.
"I can come here all the time for the computers," she said.
"I love books. I told them, 'Well, you guys will know where to find me,' " said Fontana resident Sheila Black, a family friend who brought Kayla and her 7-year-old brother, D.J., to the grand opening.
Juan Calderon and his 5-year- old son, Israel, checking out the library's teen area, said they hoped to find books on the little boy's favorite subjects: insects, fish and lizards.
Civic Investment
"A lot of our tax dollars have gone to build this," Fontana resident Georgi Williams said as she waited next to the fountain with daughters Nandi, 11, and Georgia, 12.
"I think they spent a lot of money in the right way," said Fontana resident Steve Gonzales, 57, relaxing on the second floor with his wife Amy.
Gonzalez praised city leaders for choosing to put the library downtown.
"They could have built it in a more affluent area," he said. "It's centralized. It will benefit more people here."
Reach Mary Bender at 909-806-3056 or mbender@PE.com
