Riverhead Free Library

Kristopher Depaz and Ayaan Geer, both 5, were rewarded with brand new bicycles for reading 1,000 books before kindergarten. The bikes were donated by Friends of the Riverhead Free Library. Also pictured: Friends president Marcia Littenberg and RFL Youth and Family Services coordinator Lauren Strong. Photo: Peter Blasl

The Riverhead library, operating on last year's adopted budget, will be closed on Sundays from October to April due to financial constraints.

The library will operate under its current budget for the next fiscal year, which runs from July 1 through June 30, 2021.

The library, a community resource especially valuable to parents of school-aged kids even in the absence of a pandemic, may well be nothing short of a lifeline to people in these trying times.

Riverhead Free Library has decided to close its doors for at least the next week, from March 15 to March 21.

The complexities of African American history make it difficult to unearth and nearly impossible to condense into one small exhibit space during one month of the year. But Marylin Winter and Dr. James Banks of the African American Educational and Cultural Festival embrace the challenge.

Riverhead Free Library will host an 80s-style murder mystery dinner Saturday, Oct. 5, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Dinner will take place from 6:30 to 7:30 and the show will take place from 7:30 to 9 p.m.

The event commemorates the anniversary of the 1967 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia, which held unconstitutional state laws that made interracial marriage a crime.

The library has evolved into a community hub, a place where people make social and business connections, a place of learning for people of all cultures and ages, from toddlers to seniors.

The library has collected new and gently used prom dresses, gowns and suits, which will be available free at its first-ever prom boutique Saturday from 12 to 3 p.m.