Hundreds of people were on hand Thursday morning to celebrate a much-anticipated addition to the Troy community: the opening of the new Troy Public Library.

The spectacular facility has been a long time in the planning and developing. The dedicated persistence of library volunteers combined with the vision of library director William White and the commitment of city officials to invest in the facility resulted in a state-of-the-art building that had visitors of all ages “ooohing-and-ahhhing” on Thursday morning.

As well they should.

A community’s library is a testament to its investment in education and literacy. Giving the public a place to read, to study, to research �� free of charge – helps foster literacy and engage the community. Our library is among the most impressive in the Wiregrass region and stands as a testament to the value we, as a community, place on literacy and education.

Plenty of congratulations were passed around Thursday, but they deserve to be said again:

Congratulations to Mayor Jimmy Lunsford and the Troy City Council members who pushed so hard to fulfill this visions. And kudos, as well, to the library staff, library board,nd hundreds of volunteers or supporters who helped make the dream of this library a reality.

Well done!