On the morning of Wednesday, November 18, Neill Hartley will perform Over There: Songs and Letters of WWI in the Stafford Branch's 1st Floor Main Meeting Room. The program tells the stories of the war in the words of the men and women who lived through it. The show runs from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m., registration is required, and the Friends of the Stafford Library are sponsoring it. A year ago a program like this would have meant walking downstairs. At the old North Main Street branch, Jersey Shore Online reported, presentations were held in the basement meeting room.
The Ocean County Library's new Stafford Branch opened October 5 at 179 South Main Street, which is Route 9. This is its first holiday season, and the schedule shows what the building changed. The rooms that the old branch lacked or kept downstairs now hold most of what's planned between mid-November and New Year's.
Three homes in 46 years
The Stafford branch has moved before. It started in 1980 in a second-floor room at 94 Stafford Avenue. About ten years later it moved into the former Manahawkin Baptist Church building on North Main Street, and it stayed there until that branch closed on May 1 of this year.
The South Main Street building is the third home, and the numbers explain why this move matters more than the last one:
| Old branch, North Main Street | New branch, South Main Street | |
|---|---|---|
| Building | Former Manahawkin Baptist Church | Purpose-built, 19,700 square feet |
| Space | Baseline | Nearly twice the space |
| Shelving | Baseline | Room for 40% to 50% more books and materials |
| Presentations | Basement meeting room | 1st Floor Main Meeting Room |
| Hands-on space | None described | Sparks's Lab makerspace, sensory space |
The project cost $13.2 million. Nearly $5 million came from the second round of grants under the New Jersey Library Construction Bond Act. At the opening, Tim Hart, who directs the Ocean County Cultural and Heritage Commission and serves as historian for both the county and the township, said the new building should open the door to more programs and guest speakers. Six weeks later, the calendar is starting to show that.
The ground-floor room is already booked for performers
Most of the adult programming this season is in the 1st Floor Main Meeting Room, and the local Friends group pays for several of the bigger names. These are the adult and senior events on the Ocean County Library's Stafford calendar through December:
| Date | Program | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wed., Nov. 18 | Neill Hartley Performs: Over There, Songs and Letters of WWI | 10:00–11:30 a.m. | Registration required; sponsored by the Friends of the Stafford Library |
| Tue., Nov. 24 | Creative Social Connections for Seniors | Noon–2:00 p.m. | Lunch provided; registration required, space limited |
| Thu., Dec. 3 | Elvistory: Christmas with the King | 1:00–2:30 p.m. | Elvis tribute artist Ruben Castillo; sponsored by the Friends of the Stafford Branch |
| Wed., Dec. 9 | Todd Meredith acoustic concert | 6:00–7:00 p.m. | Ocean County musician; registration required |
| Wed., Dec. 9 | Cork snowflake craft, Sparks's Lab | 5:00–6:30 p.m. | Adults; registration required |
The library's listing set registration for the December 3 Elvis show to open on Tuesday, November 3. The library describes it as a high-energy holiday show starring award-winning tribute artist Ruben Castillo.
December 9 shows how the new layout works. That evening the building runs two adult programs in two rooms at the same time. The snowflake craft in Sparks's Lab starts at 5:00, and Todd Meredith starts playing in the main meeting room at 6:00, half an hour before the craft wraps up. The concert also relies on the branch's late hours. Tuesday through Thursday, the doors stay open until 9 p.m.
Sparks's Lab and the sensory space carry the kids' calendar
Two rooms that have no counterpart in the old building's description handle the family side of the season.
Sparks's Lab is the branch's makerspace, set up for science, technology, engineering, art and math activities. Apart from its themed events, the calendar lists regular open hours when visitors of any age can use eligible equipment on their own. The sensory space is built for visitors with different sensory-processing needs. It has an Everbright wall installation with rotating, color-changing dials, a Surfpro ceiling projector that throws interactive games onto the floor, and a tactile fiber-optic wall panel.
Both rooms have holiday programs on the calendar. Many are drop-in, which helps on school breaks when plans change at the last minute:
- Wednesday, November 18: Turkey STEM Drop In Lab in Sparks's Lab for ages 6 to 11, at 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. and again at 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. The challenge is to build a cage so "Tom" can't run away. The sensory space has an all-day Paper Plate Pie craft the same day, with open hours from 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
- Wednesday, November 25: Terrific Turkey Storytime for birth to age five, 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., with songs, rhymes, stories and a turkey craft. Registration required.
- Saturday, November 28: Fall & Winter Building Challenges in Sparks's Lab for all ages, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
- Tuesday, December 1: Hot Chocolate Drop In Craft for all ages, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
- Wednesday, December 2: Winter Holidays Storytime for birth to age five, 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., with stories and crafts for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Registration required.
- Tuesday, December 8: Feeling Grinch-y Storytime for ages 3 to 12, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., with a craft and a visit from the Grinch. Registration required.
- Friday, December 18: A Very Sensory Grinchmas in the sensory space, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., drop-in and first come, first served.
- Wednesday, December 23: Family Movie Matinee of The Polar Express for ages 0 to 12, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with a simple craft, cocoa and cookies. Registration required.
- Saturday, December 26: All ages can make a 2027 goals-and-aspirations bingo board in Sparks's Lab, 2:00 to 4:30 p.m.
- Tuesday, December 29: Gingerbread puppet drop-in for ages 3 to 7, 1:30 to 5:00 p.m., while supplies last.
The week after Christmas has the most open-ended options. The December 26 bingo board and the December 29 puppets don't need a reservation, and the Polar Express matinee just before the holiday does. Library calendars change, so check the listing before you head over.
Planning a visit around the hours
The new branch keeps three different daily schedules. A rough outline of a December visit:
- Monday, Friday and Saturday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Tuesday through Thursday: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Evening events like the December 9 concert fall on these nights.
- Sunday: 1 to 5 p.m.
Questions go to the branch at 609-597-3381, and the full system is online at theoceancountylibrary.org.
The meeting room serves community groups as well as library programs. Under the Ocean County Library's meeting room policy, nonprofit and community organizations can ask to use a room during library hours by scheduling ahead. Bookings are generally made no more than three months in advance. A club or civic group hoping to meet in the new building in early 2027 is now inside that window.
A library on a county campus
The location adds something the North Main Street building couldn't offer. The new branch sits beside the county's resource center, which Ocean County calls the Southern Service Center. In a 2023 county release about the project, the services listed for the campus included a senior nutrition site, the Ocean County Clerk's Office, the Office of Senior Services, the Department of Human Services and the Veterans Service Bureau. At the opening, the county commissioner who serves as library liaison pointed out that the library, Meals on Wheels and county clerk services are all in one place.
In practice, an errand at the clerk's office and a stop at the library can happen in the same trip down Route 9. A grandparent can also drop into the November 24 seniors' lunch program while a younger family member uses the open hours in Sparks's Lab.
The building also has an intergenerational space meant to help older adults connect with others. Nora DeRosa, a former president of the Friends of the Stafford Library, told Jersey Shore Online that seeing the finished building was especially rewarding after the group's support for the project. That same group is now paying for the performers on the first floor.
If you live in Stafford or Manahawkin and want to talk about how new community spaces like this fit into your plans for the next few years, MaryBeth Tomaro would be glad to hear from you. Schedule a Free Consultation, and bring your questions about life along the Route 9 corridor.
