The Woodstock Community Center is a

community center Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...

and former

fire station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire h ...

built in 1928, located in the

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

neighborhood of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The building was converted to a community center when

Portland Parks & Recreation Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) is a Bureau of the City of Portland, Oregon that manages the city parks, natural areas, recreational facilities, gardens, and trails. The properties, which occupy a total of more than . The bureau employs a total ...

acquired ownership in 1958. In 2003, community members prevented closure due to budget constraints by forming a group called Friends of the Woodstock Community Center to raise funds and coordinate volunteers.

History

Originally constructed as a

in 1928, the building was converted to a

in 1958 after

(PP&R) acquired ownership. In 2003, City of Portland budget constraints threatened closure of the center. Community members formed a group called Friends of the Woodstock Community Center (FWCC) to raise funds and coordinate volunteers, preventing closure. Volunteers contribute thousands of hours each year to maintain the property and coordinate workshops and other community events. According to the Woodstock Neighborhood Association (WNA), an agreement with PP&R requires that the center operate on a cost neutral basis. The center had 6,492 visits during the 2011–2012 fiscal year. In 2013, the center had a budget at nearly $33,000 of program revenue and two part-time staff members who also worked at the Mt. Scott Community Center (the Woodstock Community Center is considered its satellite). Volunteers continue to keep the center running, donating an average of 400 hours per quarter and maintaining the building's interior and exterior.

Community role

Over the years the building has hosted numerous activities. In the late-1950s the center began hosting all music education classes offered by PP&R. The music program included children's music, ear training, music theory and strings instruction; classes were offered at the Woodstock location until the construction of the Community Music Center in 1969. More recent examples include

Al-Anon Al-Anon Family Groups, founded in 1951, is an international mutual aid organization for people who have been impacted by another person's alcoholism. In the organization's own words, Al-Anon is a "worldwide fellowship that offers a program of rec ...

meetings, clock repair classes, guitar and piano lessons, Halloween parties, pilates, a pre-school

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

program, Reed Neighborhood Association meetings,

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

watercolor painting Watercolor (American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the U ...

, WNA meetings, yoga classes and

Zumba Zumba is a fitness program that involves cardio and Latin-inspired dance. It was founded by Colombian dancer and choreographer Beto Pérez in 2001, and by 2012, it had 110,000 locations and 12 million people taking classes weekly. Zumba is a ...

fitness classes. The center also hosts benefit events by FWCC and the WNA to support its maintenance fund through the sale of arts and crafts, plants, and raffle and silent auction items. Space at the center can be rented for events. As of 2015, PP&R operates a pre-school at the center.

References

External links

Woodstock Community Center
Woodstock Neighborhood Association {{Woodstock, Portland, Oregon 1928 establishments in Oregon Buildings and structures in Portland, Oregon Community centers in the United States Defunct fire stations in Oregon Fire stations completed in 1928 Woodstock, Portland, Oregon