The new Sidney Center Community Center. Photo by Julia Reischel.
The last time the American flag flew from the top of the flagpole at Sidney Center Elementary School was in 2005, when the school was shuttered because of declining enrollment.
This past Saturday, a team of boy scouts from Unadilla's Boy Scout Troop #1 raised the stars and stripes up that flagpole again to celebrate the re-opening of the Delaware County school building as a brand-new community center.
For organizer Paul Hamilton, Saturday's flag-raising was a triumph.
"The building has been empty for six years," he said. "Today, the parking lot is full again. To have the building come back to life, it was very moving. So often the news up here is about death, closures, and dead-ends. Now, suddenly, it's about possibility, newness, and life."
Hamilton's group, Greater Maywood Rural Community Services, purchased the vacant school building in May for $50,000. An unidentified local donor provided much of the money for the group's purchase, according to the Daily Star.
The plan is to make Sidney Center, a small hamlet outside of Walton that had much of its Main Street damaged by flooding in May, into a destination for residents across Delaware County.
Below: A slideshow of images from the grand opening of the Sidney Center Community Center. Photos by Julia Reischel and Paul Hamilton.
The GMRCS plans to fill the 12 rooms and large auditorium of the new community center with community organizations, local businesses, regular performances, adult education classes, distance learning initiatives, and even interfaith religious service -- there's already one planned for the anniversary of September 11 this fall. The Hancock-based French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts, members of which performed in the auditorium on Saturday, will appear regularly. The home-improvement store Lowes is donating a full kitchen to the center. Each room is wired for internet access. The 18,000-square-foot building was renovated in 2002, just three years before it was shuttered, and it looked and smelled brand-new on Saturday. To keep it top condition, the GMRCS is hiring a full-time maintenance engineer.
"This is like building a small town," Hamilton said.
All of these grand plans have arisen in less than a year. Hamilton said that a year ago, soon after he bought a Sidney Center farm, he noticed the empty school buliding and thought, "That's an opportunity."
He gave a presentation saying so to the nonprofit Sidney Center Improvement Group almost exactly a year ago, and the idea caught fire.
"Fifteen people showed up at my house afterwards," he said. "We dreamed together, and here we are."
The group became GMRCS and began raising money to purchase the building. In ten months, it had it. The groundswell of enthusiasm for the project makes you wonder: Why didn't anyone do this sooner?
"Maybe because there was no hope," Hamilton said. "Something happens when you connect people and possibilities."
On Saturday, 150 people were on hand to celebrate those possibilities. Sidney town supervisor Bob McCarthy showed up; so did state assemblyman Pete Lopez. The visitors made merry -- "They ate over 300 hot dogs and hamburgers," said Carol Bennet, GMRCS's Vide-President -- and helped the community center meet its goal of signing up 100 new members by the end of the day.
Below: Paul Hamilton next to the Sidney Center Community Center flagpole. Photo by Julia Reischel.
