Buellton Library drawing rave reviews after opening at new picturesque location

BUELLTON, Calif. - After opening at its long-awaited new location over the weekend, the Buellton Library is drawing rave reviews from the public.

"We're excited," said Buellton resident Francisca Escobar. "I'm excited as a community member, as a newly retired person that I'll to take advantage of all the opportunities that are here at the library. In my heart as a former teacher and a lover of books, I am just so excited that these resources are here for our community."

The new library is located at 202 Dairyland Road, on the site of the historic Willemsen property, which previously served as Buellton's first dairy many years ago.

The City of Buellton acquired the site in 2020 and after public outreach, a decision was made to renovate the main residence on the property into the city's new library.

"We wanted to honor the Williamson family by using their home," said former Buellton Mayor Holly Sierra, who serves as president of the Friends of the Buellton Library. "It just feels so good that we were able to use their home to turn it into a library for the community.  It was a little more expensive than the city planned because when you take an old house and try to refurbish it or try to put in new infrastructure, it might have been less expensive to tear it down and build, but my goodness, this was the Williamson house and and the view. They had this view and when I walked into the property, I just knew that it would make an incredible library and fortunately, the community agreed."

The library features several large glass windows, including many on the backside of the building opposite of the front desk.

When looking to the southern end of the building, people are greeted with spectacular views of the Santa Ynez Valley.

"Our Friends (of the Buellton Library) are now working on outdoor furniture so that you can come and sit down and read a book and look at our incredible view," said Sierra. "(Branch Manager) Hilary (Johnson) wants to have children's reading our under the trees during the summertime. It's just the opportunities are so endless and so open and we're really hoping our community lets us know what they want to see here because we didn't have that at our other library."

The new library includes expanded materials and resources for its patrons, as well as two community rooms.

"We have eight computers available in the adult section," said Sierra. "We have four computers available in the children's section. We have all types of DVDs and CDs. We have audio books. We have reference materials. In my mind, this is the hub of the community and it's just it's going to be the heart of Buellton."

On Saturday, the City of Buellton held an official ribbon-cutting, as well as a grand opening for the new facility.

Visitors had the opportunity to register for a library card right on-site, visit themed stations throughout the library and browse the collection in the freshly remodeled historic building.

"It was incredible," said Sierra. "Our opening day, they stopped counting at 400. The library was open for five hours. The ribbon cutting was at noon. All the celebrations went until 3 p.m. and you'd walk in the library and there were just lines of people. Our community loves its library."

The Buellton Library is open five days a week. It's open Monday through Wednesday, closed Thursdays, open on Friday and Saturday and closed on Sunday.

For more information about the Buellton Library, click here to visit the library's Facebook page.