Saturday is a big day for events in Midway: Cleanup, university commencement, library's 10th birthday party

There is no shortage of things to do in Midway tomorrow.

At 10 a.m., the annual Cleanup Day effort will begin, with volunteers gathering at Northside Elementary School.

Dr. Ardis Hoven

At 11 a.m., Midway University will hold its commencement ceremonies. The featured speaker is Dr. Ardis Hoven, the first woman president of the Kentucky Medical Association. She has also been president of the American Medical Association and most recently was chair of the World Medical Association. Hoven is a University of Kentucky professor, a consultant to the state Department for Public Health and medical director of the Harm Reduction Initiative, a UK-DPH collaborative to prevent spread of HIV, hepatitis C, substance-use disorder and overdose deaths. Her father was a Midway College trustee from 1955 to 1983.

From 2 to 4 p.m., the Midway Branch of the Woodford County Library will have its 10th birthday party with an ice-cream social, local musicians Blake Jones, Bill Penn and Happy Accident, a bounce house for children, and a mobile art room, the On the Move Art Studio.

The Midway Messenger reported when the library was dedicated in 2009 that it was built at a cost of just under $1 million. It replaced the Midway Free Public Library, which had been established in 1989, originally in the all-purpose room of the Midway Presbyterian Church. It started with 1,000 books donated by the county library and was staffed by volunteers.

Charlann Wombles, a City Council member at the time, said in the concluding speech at the dedication that the libraries were examples of Midway's volunteer spirit. She said volunteers go unpaid "not because they are worthless [but] because they are priceless," and famed anthropologist Margaret Mead "may have had Midway in mind" when she said "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."