The grand opening of the renovated Second Hand Prose used book shop was still under way July 21 when Friends of the Wiscasset Public Library began setting a time to put the last of the books, the biographies and history ones, on their new shelves.

“See, this is what this Friends group is like, is ‘Get it done,’” library director Pam Dunning said in the shop’s door yard. “They’re amazing.”

Over chocolate chip cookies, brownies and lemonade, group members and other attendees praised the hard work and commitment of members and Two Bridges Regional Jail inmates to make over the shop.

“It went from gloomy to glorious,” Friends President Katharine Martin-Savage said about the shop where books are cheap and the sales benefit the library.

Earlier in the afternoon, Martin-Savage cut the bright pink ribbon on the outside back door patrons can use when Friends volunteers are manning the shop; when it’s unmanned, library visitors can access it from the inside and pay at the front desk, Friends members said.

A big band night at Marianmade Farm in 2015 raised money for the renovation, members said. The group coordinated with the jail for inmates to build and paint the shelves. Members removed books, in order, from the outgoing setup until the new shelves were ready; and they painted the walls.

The shop carries an estimated 4,500 books. Maine fiction and non-fiction are particularly popular with patrons, members said. Hard covers go for $2.00, trade paperbacks $1.00 and the narrower, mass market paperbacks 50 cents, Dunning said. The Friends group provides a huge service to the community through the money it raises for the children’s summer reading program and the other aid it provides the library, she said. And the books are a great buy, cheap enough to take to the beach and not worry if you lose them, she added.

This year’s fundraiser at Marianmade Farm will go toward LED lighting in the library’s children’s room and non-fiction section, Friends member Linda Winterberg said. As for the shop renovation that last year’s event funded, Winterburg said at Thursday’s grand opening, “It’s just so exciting. So many people have worked so hard.”

Martin-Savage cut the ribbon a second time when Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy Will Owen and Corrections Officer Casey Walker, from Two Bridges’ wood shop, arrived.

The jail’s industries program helps inmates learn or hone carpentry skills; those in the program when the shelves were being built this past spring happened to be a very skilled group, Walker said. “I think they did a great job, and it made it go much quicker.”

The Garden Club of Wiscasset created a garden to the left of the book shop’s door. “I can’t thank everybody enough,” Martin-Savage said.

In interviews and remarks during the ceremonies, members repeatedly described Friends member Judith Sutter as the renovation’s commander, working with fellow members to complete each step. Sutter cited other members’ efforts.

“It was a monumental task,” Martin-Savage said about the project.