“Cabin fever,” according to Webster’s New World dictionary, is a condition of increased anxiety, tension or boredom caused by living in a confined space or isolated area, especially in winter. In Anchor Point, “cabin fever” is the name of a party: Cabin Fever Variety Show, an annual fund-raising event for Anchor Point Public Library.

This year’s show will be at Chapman School at 7 p.m. Saturday.

“This is our major fundraiser of the year,” said organizer Mary Perry. “ It takes a lot of money to run even a small outfit like our library, so we hope we get lots of people.”

Rather than one main entertainer and other acts, this year’s evening show will shine the light equally on everyone taking to the Chapman School stage.

“We’re spotlighting all the local talent,” Perry said.

Performers include the Seaside Singers of Homer, whose harmonizing wowed last year’s audience.

“We have several kids from Chapman School that are performing, a group from the Lighthouse Assembly of God that performed last year, and John McLemore, the Anchor Point Church of Christ preacher that plays the guitar and sings,” Perry said.

A skit and other acts also are planned for the program, and Perry is busy working out last-minute scheduling details.

Another popular part of the evening is the silent dessert auction. Cakes, pies and assorted offerings from local kitchens are available for bidding during the evening, with the lucky winners announced near the show’s end.

Six southern peninsula restaurants have donated dinners for two that will be raffled off during the variety show. The restaurants include Anchor River Inn, Café Cups, Caribou Family Restaurant, Don Jose’s, Fat Olives and Land’s End Resort. Raffle tickets are $5 each.

Stan Harrington will serve as the evening’s MC, keeping the evening moving with his repertoire of jokes.

“We could probably use a few more acts,” Perry said, inviting anyone interested in performing to contact the library.

Funding for Anchor Point Public Library comes from the state — $6,200 — with the library having to provide a $7,000 match, according to librarian Lora Craig. More than half of the money coming from the state — $3,500 — is to be used specifically for the purchase of books.

In addition to the variety show, operating dollars for the library also are raised through book and garage sales. In November, it held a dessert theater, featuring a reading of “Love Letters,” performed by Arthur and Mary Griffith.

The library, which opened in the late 1940s, is currently averaging 30-40 visitors a day. There are 400 library cardholders, said Craig, who has been the librarian since August. Linda Conrad works with Craig through the MAAST, the state’s Mature Alaskans Seeking Skills Training program. The library’s 13,000 titles are in the computer and an on-line system is being developed so users can see what’s available from the comforts of their home computers. Four computers with Internet access are available for use at the library. The public does not pay a fee to use them, but does pay 10-cents per printed page, or for any page duplicated on the library’s copy machine. A story hour is held on the second Saturday of the month, from 1-2 p.m.

Anchor Point Public Library is open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call the library at 235-5692.

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky@homernews.com.