It's celebration time! Sunday, Sept. 10 is the Star Dream Fountain's 20th birthday AND the Royal Oak Public Library (ROPL) will begin its Sunday hours.
We're calling it Super Star Sunday. Here's what's happening at the library from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sept. 10. We'll have art tours, lawn games, celebrity story time and, of course, birthday cake! You can also learn how to fish on the library lawn with the Oakland County mobile recreation crew.
The first 100 visitors to the library will receive a FREE Royal Oak book bag filled with goodies. It will be the first time the library will be open on a Sunday in its more than 100-year history.
About Sundays at the library:
Sunday hours will begin Sept. 10 and end in June when public schools finish classes for the year. Sunday hours will be 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
About Star Dream:
- The Star Dream sculpture is the work of Marshall Fredericks, who also designed the famed "Spirit of Detroit" in front the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit and the world's largest crucifix, "Christ on the Cross" in Indian River, MI.
- The bronze statue is 34-feet tall and weighs 7,500 pounds.
- It took almost 17 years of planning to bring the fountain structure to completion. Four different mayors worked on the project.
- Fredericks maintained a studio in Royal Oak at Woodward and Normandy from 1946 until his death, at age 90, on April 4, 1998.
- According to Civic Arts Projects, "the sculpture was originally conceived in 1947 as one of the original concepts for a commission in Cleveland which eventually became ‘The Fountain of Eternal Life’."
- The work symbolizes man’s continual search for peace.