Wesley Chapel-William C. Brown Library Dedication Anniversary and Kwanzaa Celebration

Com­mu­ni­ty Invit­ed to Join the Cel­e­bra­tion on Decem­ber 27

DECATUR, Ga. – (Dec. 15, 2022) – DeKalb Coun­ty Pub­lic Library (DCPL) will hold an event to com­mem­o­rate the 30^th anniver­sary of the nam­ing of Wes­ley Chapel-William C. Brown Library and to cel­e­brate Kwan­zaa. The event is sched­uled for 5:45 p.m. on Tues­day, Dec. 27, 2022.

The event will fea­ture reflec­tions on the library’s more than 30 years of ser­vice; remem­brances about the late Dr. William C. Brown; read­ings; tra­di­tion­al African dance; musi­cal per­for­mances; and a Kwan­zaa cer­e­mo­ny. The late Doris K. Wells, who cre­at­ed DCPL’s first Kwan­zaa Aware­ness Fes­ti­val in 1983, led the library as its first branch man­ag­er. The pro­gram will high­light her endur­ing imprint on the library and Wes­ley Chapel community. 

“Wes­ley Chapel-William C. Brown Library has been a vibrant and vital resource for many years, and we are excit­ed to come togeth­er to cel­e­brate Dr. Brown’s lega­cy,” said DeKalb Coun­ty Pub­lic Library Direc­tor Ali­son Weissinger. ​“Not only was Dr. Brown a DeKalb Coun­ty Com­mis­sion­er, he served on the DCPL Board of Trustees for 14 years, and was chair­man dur­ing 12 of those years. Dur­ing his chair­man­ship, a $29 mil­lion bond ref­er­en­dum was passed, result­ing in the build­ing of 12 new libraries and ren­o­va­tion of sev­er­al more.” 

The cel­e­bra­tion is part of the Doris K. Wells Her­itage Fes­ti­val, which is held through­out the months of Decem­ber and Jan­u­ary across many of DCPL’s locations. 

The event is free and open to the pub­lic. For more infor­ma­tion and to reg­is­ter, vis­it the reg­is­tra­tion page.

About the Doris K. Wells Her­itage Festival

The Doris K. Wells Her­itage Fes­ti­val cel­e­brates com­mu­ni­ties served by DeKalb Coun­ty Pub­lic Library. It was first cel­e­brat­ed in 1983 as the Kwan­zaa Aware­ness Fes­ti­val at Scott Can­dler Library, with more than 1,000 peo­ple in atten­dance. The Fes­ti­val hon­ors the diverse cul­tur­al her­itages of DeKalb Coun­ty res­i­dents. The late Doris K. Wells blazed a trail as DeKalb County’s first African Amer­i­can pro­fes­sion­al librar­i­an. Her lega­cy con­tin­ues to make a pos­i­tive impact on DeKalb County’s more than 750,000 residents.