Hundreds of guests went “down the rabbit hole” on April 26 for the 2025 Garden Gala at Northland Public Library, themed after the beloved literary classic “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll.
“We welcomed more than 300 guests on Saturday night, in addition to 20 food and beverage vendors, dozens of volunteers, and 36 sponsors, led by our co-presenting sponsors, UPMC Health Plan and UPMC Passavant,” said Alexis McKinley, director of the Northland Public Library Foundation.
The library is undergoing an approximately $4 million renovation that began in September and is expected to last until early summer. But McKinley said they were able to work around it.
“Overall, the gala was a tremendous success despite the challenge of not having an operational staircase in the library due to ongoing construction for the New Northland project,” McKinley said.
Though the fundraising amount has yet to be finalized, she expects the gala will generate a profit of close to $50,000.
As part of the preparations, students from North Allegheny helped with the decor.
Members of the National Art Honor Society, led by teacher Lauren Swan, painted the window art. This is the third consecutive year that students created window paintings for the gala, McKinley said.
Sophomore Sidney Rice designed two dresses made from books for this year’s gala — “The Alice Dress” and “Queen of Hearts Dress.”
The event featured live music, food and drinks, music, a magician, costumed characters and croquet in the outdoor Learning Garden.
Patricia Cloonan, a member of McCandless Council, attended the gala and mentioned it during its April 28 meeting.
“For any folks involved in the Northland Public Library Garden Gala on Saturday, it was an absolutely fabulous event,” Cloonan said. “Thank you very much for your hard work, and I’m so excited to see what is happening at the library.”
Proceeds from the Northland Public Library Foundation’s gala provide critical support for library programs and services.