VAN ZANDT — After 70 years of serving as a community gathering space and nearly a century of existence, the Van Zandt Community Hall is getting a major upgrade.
The hall, originally a two-room schoolhouse, has been managed by community members since the 1950s. Technically owned by Whatcom County, the South Fork Valley Community Association is the building’s steward and caretaker.
The hall is a center of life in the South Fork Valley, association members say, from putting on events and youth programming in collaboration with nonprofits, to hosting government meetings and election forums.
Now, after years of the association funding and doing its own upgrades, the state has pitched in $500,000 toward a major renovation to expand and improve the space. The community raised an additional $100,000 and is hoping to see funding from the county to complete needed improvements.
Hall is a point of pride to community
The community hall is “vital infrastructure” in eastern Whatcom County, 50-year association board member Jeff Margolis said.
The hall allows a way for folks to break out of the isolation that often comes with rural living, board member Will Radecki said. “If you look at all the other historic buildings and all the other kind of Grange-type old schoolhouses, they’ve all been either demolished or mothballed …” Radecki said.
“That’s a real point of pride, I think for for this community — the fact that we were able to get $100,000 in donations and get this big renovation going,” he said. “That means that the community recognizes that they expect this place to still be standing 50 to 100 years from now and still have the seed swaps and the open mics and the potlucks.”
Breanna Anderson, KAVZ 102.5 FM station manager and board member, said part of the reason she and her partner moved to the Van Zandt area was because of the community association and the hall.
“There are a lot of folks who are like us, moving out into the area, finding … their five acres of heaven but also want to not be completely isolated. They want to have like-minded folks, and this is kind of a nucleus, an attraction point, a gravity well that pulls people in,” she said.
After years of small fixes, this renovation would add a new entrance, expand storage, expand the community radio station KAVZ 102.5 FM — which is currently broadcasting out of an old broom closet — replace the heating system and re-insulate the walls. Radecki said they hope to break ground in fall 2024 and be done in time for a centennial celebration in summer 2025.
With the upgrades, Radecki said he hopes the hall could serve as an emergency shelter for the community in times of need — as a cooling center, a warming center, or a place to go if there was a natural disaster.
Building investment has been welcome surprise
Investments from the state and interest from local leaders have been a welcome surprise, Radecki said. State Sen. Sharon Shewmake was instrumental in acquiring state funding, while Whatcom County Parks Director Bennett Knox and County Executive Satpal Sidhu have been very supportive, he said.
Sidhu said small communities like Van Zandt don’t get as much attention as bigger towns and said it’s important for their community to have a place like the hall to get together.
He said he encouraged the association to come to county council for the remaining funds to finish the project. “I’ll help them, speak in their favor to find some money,” Sidhu said.
Shewmake said in a message that the project has been “community driven.”
“So many people have come together to donate their money, their labor and their talents on renovating and maintaining the hall that the least the state can do is support some of the bigger pieces of this community project,” she said.
The Van Zandt Community Hall is located at 4106 Valley Hwy. 9 in Deming.
Editor’s note: Cascadia Daily News owner David Syre donated to this project.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
