Dry Brook Community Center Comes Back to Life

ARKVILLE — After years of quiet along the Dry Brook valley, an old community gathering place came alive again Saturday evening as more than 100 neighbors filled the grounds of the Dry Brook Community Center for a potluck dinner, live music and what organizers hope will mark the beginning of a new chapter.

The revival began July 11, when 23 residents gathered for an annual meeting to elect a new board and consider the future of the center. Among them was Natalie Hoffman, who had moved to Dry Brook two years earlier and had never stepped inside the building.

“I saw the meeting sign, which was beautifully designed by Wendy Brackman,” Hoffman recalled. “I came to the annual meeting, and then I walked away president somehow.” What she discovered inside was a community equally enthusiastic about bringing new life to a familiar local institution. “I really like anything community, any sort of community gathering,” Hoffman said. “And this community is so special.”

Wendy Buerge, who previously managed the church and community hall, accepted the position of vice president. For Buerge, the center fills a need that is particularly important in a rural valley where neighbors may live miles apart. “We don't have a gathering spot,” she said. “This is our new revived gathering spot. It's awesome.”

Saturday offered the first glimpse of what that revival might look like. Under partly cloudy skies, families arrived carrying dishes for an expansive community potluck.

DBCC President Natalie Hoffman and VP Wendy Buerge

Children played and picked apples while generations of longtime residents and newer arrivals gathered around tables overflowing with homemade main courses, vegetables, fruits and desserts. Kam Storey took first prize in a dessert vote for her custard cream pie.

The size of the gathering surprised even its organizers. Hoffman said the center's email list contained only about 45 people when invitations went out. She received exactly one response.

“It was my mother who responded,” Hoffman said, laughing. Despite that modest beginning, she estimated attendance at well over 100. “More cars than I've ever seen on this road, and kids everywhere shouting, having fun, picking apples, a great band. What more could you ask for?”

Music from Detour carried across the valley following dinner, with the band performing rock classics as people danced and others settled in to listen against the surrounding mountain backdrop. Detour guitarist Gary Meade, a member of the new board, had volunteered the band during the July meeting.

The evening also carried special meaning for residents who remember earlier generations gathering at the property. Linda Fairbairn Klaus, whose family has deep roots in Dry Brook, recalled community dinners from decades ago and said the center “used to be so active.”

Long time Dry Brook resident Linda Fairbairn-Klaus

Precisely how long the center has gone without this level of regular community programming remains difficult to establish. Residents recalled activity extending into earlier decades, while the facilities have occasionally been rented over the years. For Wendy Brackman, however, Saturday represented something she had not experienced during her own two decades in the valley. “Everybody here who attended brought so much positive energy,” Brackman said. “We never expected such a turnout. A community that wants to be a community, that's what's so great.”

Brackman does not hold a board position, although she has been among those helping bring new energy to the center. Her husband serves as treasurer.

The newly organized board is already considering what might come next. Ideas include seed and seedling exchanges, a classic car gathering, collaborations with local cycling groups, theater productions and additional community events. The organization is also pursuing grants that could help renovate the facilities and eventually allow the space to host more rentals and programming.

Buerge would particularly like to see an election night dinner held at the center, while Hoffman envisions the neighboring church and its small stage becoming another resource for community programming.

For Hoffman, Saturday's turnout demonstrated that reviving a rural gathering place does not necessarily begin with an elaborate plan. It begins by giving people a reason to come together.

“All we did at the end of the day here was send out a flyer,” Hoffman said. “We had maybe three meetings, and we painted two signs, and the turnout was fantastic from that. If you put in a little, you really do get a lot.”

As Detour played and neighbors lingered beneath the mountains Saturday evening, an old gathering place once again sounded like a community center. Food filled the tables, children filled the grounds and music filled the valley.

For a community that wanted a place to come together, the first step toward bringing Dry Brook back was simply showing up.