Enoch Pratt birthday celebration
Just got back from the Enoch Pratt's main library, which had a celebration marking the 200th anniversary of its namesake benefactor. There was piano music, a Happy Birthday chorus from some youngsters, a Pratt impersonator and an amazing cake made to look like four stacked books from Duff Goldman, the owner of Charm City Cakes and star of Food Network’s Ace of Cakes, (I didn't get to taste it -- damned newspaper ethics policy!). Pratt gave more than $1 million to create the nation's first urban library system -- a gift that Executive Director Carla Hayden estimated to be worth more than $100 million today. And he told city officials the library should be for “rich and poor, without distinction of race or color,” his Sun obit said.
Mayor Sheila Dixon commended the 19th-century merchant and banker for creating a library "for all people." She added, "He was clearly ahead of his time." To that I say, amen.
Sun photo by Monica Lopossay
While she always preferred The Hardy Boys to Nancy Drew, 
