Big Lake’s first librarian retires after 32 years, friends surprise her with ‘car parade’

BIG LAKE — Big Lake Library Director Jo Cassidy is retiring after 32 years of serving her community.

In this current COVID-19 era and social distancing, a number of Cassidy’s colleagues, friends and library regulars devised a way to send the beloved librarian off with a bang, a surprise “car parade” outside the building on April 30.

Big Lake librarian Paige Moore said that she and her fellow staff members organized the car parade to show how much they value Cassidy’s legacy, and to give the community a chance to let her know she’s appreciated. People came as far as Willow to participate in the car parade. They staged at the East Lake Mall parking lot and when the time was right, they drove over to the library and circled the lot. Many of the cars were decorated or at least had balloons coming out the windows.

Several local families brought their children. Several children cheered, whooped and hollered, shouting heartfelt praises to the longtime community librarian. Cassidy was visibly moved by the whole experience.

“I can’t even express my emotions. It’s overwhelming. It’s very special,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy said the fact this was a surprise made it all the sweeter. Moore laughed after the fact, saying that Cassidy was getting suspicious so they started the parade a little early. People honked their horns and waved at the pleasantly surprised librarian.

“I had no idea. It was completely a surprise,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy isn’t just the longest serving librarian in Big Lake. She’s the very first. She’s been through it all, from the library’s inception and relocation to the jump into digital archives from hand typed cards in the Dewey Decimal System.

“I hand typed every catalogue card,” Cassidy said.

Moore said Cassidy has been through all these chapters in the community’s history, like the Miller’s Reach Fire, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough cyber attack, the November 2018 earthquake, and now, COVID-19.

“It’s been an amazing, amazing career for her and she’s the basis of the library. She loves being a librarian. As soon as they made it… she started there,” Moore said.

Cassidy lives just 2 miles away from the Big Lake Library. She said the library is a safe community center and she’s thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all these different people over the years.

“I’ve seen three generations of kids go through the Story Hour,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy said that it’s going to feel odd not coming to work for a while but she has plenty of time and plans for retirement. She said that she’s going to do a lot of traveling, gardening, hiking, and deep dives into her family’s genealogy.

The Big Lake Library has been closed due to COVID-19. They recently started offering curbside pickup. They’re also holding their story hour for children over Facebook Live.

People can download audiobooks and access a spectrum of resources online. They can also request books from the Alaska Library Network, a shared catalogue that’s connected to libraries across the state.

For more information, call the Big Lake Library at 907-861-7635.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com