The Collingwood Public Library will be looking to add to its fundraising total next Saturday.

The organization will be holding an event called Jewels and Jeans at 7 p.m. at the library on Second Street. The event will include a dinner, a musical performance and a silent auction.

Among the items up for grabs in the auction will be paintings done by local artists, including a painting from library architect Henry Wong.

There will also be a draw for a pair of diamond watches, valued at more than $650 each.

Tickets are $50 and all proceeds will go to the new library.

According to Dr. David Ripley, chair of the Collingwood Public Library board, the organization has achieved about 80 per cent of their fundraising goal of $500,000.

He said $300,000 of that was obtained through private donors, while the balance has been raised in the public campaign, which was officially launched in February.

The money raised by the library will go towards furniture and other items for the new library, which is expected to be open in April 2009.

"We're really close," he said. "We'd like to go over that."

Ripley says the buy-a-brick campaign - where people can purchase a brick on the library and dedicate it to a loved one - is going very well.

He said they have received donations from across North America from people who have had a positive experience at the library.

Construction on the new library is expected to start in the next several months as tenders for the library were released two weeks ago. The project, which includes a third floor to be used by town staff as office space, is expected to cost more than $7.5 million.

For more information, contact the library at 445-1571.