The Cherry Hill library moved to its current building location in 2005, meaning that this year marks its 20th in the new building.
To celebrate the anniversary, the library hosted a week of events for patrons that began on April 7. As a kickoff, the facility held a jigsaw puzzle contest. Each 200-piece puzzle featured the same image of the front of the building, framed with a blue sky at the top and a bright green grass at the bottom, making the puzzle more challenging due to the number of similar pieces.
The contest was largely funded by the Friends of the Cherry Hill Public Library. Run by Hope Holroyd, the library’s public relations and marketing coordinator, the contest’s rules were firm: No distractions or devices were allowed, so most participants put away their phones or set them on tables out of arm’s reach.
“This was something that we wanted to try at a smaller scale to see what a larger-scale program could look like,” Holroyd said. “And we figured for the people who really love puzzles, being able to come and be able to take it home with them was special.”
When the contest timer began, participants rushed to tear off the wrapping on puzzles, ripped open the plastic bags inside the boxes and set to work sorting their pieces. The first person to finish a puzzle was awarded a $50 Target gift card and all puzzlers took theirs home with them
Some participants dove in and started putting pieces together, some got borders done first, and others set the lids of puzzle boxes upright so they could easily use the photos for reference. As the timer ticked on, the room remained almost silent, except for the sound of cardboard pieces coming together and the light tapping of folding tables.
First to finish was Katherine Dilks, who completed her puzzle in under 15 minutes. She regularly competes in jigsaw puzzle competitions, including a national contest in Washington D.C., where she came in 34th out of 600 competitors.
“I think the main strategy is practice, lots and lots of practice,” Dilks explained. “And then seeing what works for you, because a lot of people have different strategies that work for them, and if you try to switch your strategy, it might slow you down.”
Though Dilks finished first at the library contest, she insisted that the gift card go to the second-place puzzler – Kristen Dowd – since Dilks was there merely to compete for fun and take a puzzle home. Participants continued working on their puzzles after the contest ended.
“I think it was definitely something different that we don’t usually offer,” Holroyd noted. “I think it was interesting to see, even when people were finished, they just kind of wanted to hang out and talk. And then even when people won, people still wanted to finish theirs and enjoy their time putting it together. That’s why we left so much time for people …
“That’s the point … just come have fun.”
Judy Rothman competed for the first time at the library.
“It was a lot of fun,” she said. “I was with a lot of people my age, so I guess young people just haven’t gotten into puzzles yet, which I think they should, because it really helps your brain.”
In addition to the puzzle competition, the library also sold 500-piece puzzles with a different image of its building on them. Both the sale and competition not only served to commemorate the library anniversary, but emphasized the facility’s stock of puzzles for patrons, who can check them out and return them when completed.
