ARLINGTON — The Trafton Community Center welcomed the public to its Fall Festival on Oct. 30, which gave former students of the Trafton School and area residents alike a chance to check out its programs.
While the afternoon was mostly devoted to Halloween-themed activities for the kids, Trafton Community Center Program Coordinator Randi Ray was ready to talk with visitors about its upcoming classes and meetings for both children and adults.
“We’ve reopened Trafton to offer low-cost YMCA-type programming,” Ray said. “We’re very excited to help spread community awareness of a new start for the building.”
Tuesdays at 7 p.m. are for teens to share music, games and spiritual study. The second and fourth Wednesdays at 7 p.m. and Thursdays at 10 a.m. of each month are for informal one-hour sessions of prayer, study, discussion and fellowship, for all ages and adults respectively. During the first and third Wednesdays and Thursdays, these sessions take place at the Oso Chapel.
Tina Ray will also be teaching knitting and crochet crafts at Trafton on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month, starting at 6 p.m., with the Oso Chapel hosting that program on the first and third Thursdays of each month.
The Saturday before the Fall Festival, the play areas of Trafton hosted a baseball skills clinic for ages 8-12, while the Sunday Fall Festival itself drew 140 attendees within its first hour alone.
Angelina and Elizabeth Bennett are in high school now, but they still remember attending Trafton from kindergarten through fifth grade. They arrived at the former schoolhouse in Halloween costumes on the afternoon of the Fall Festival and expressed optimism for its future, even as they remarked upon its changes.
“It seems really empty without the kids’ desks in the rooms,” said Angelina Bennett, 16.
“It’s good, even if it feels a little weird,” said Elizabeth Bennett, 15. “I hope we can see people who remember when it was a schoolhouse.”
Ammaron Twitchell’s school days at Trafton are well behind him, but neither of his two boys is old enough to have attended their dad’s old school.
“Places like this always seem so much bigger when you’re a child,” Twitchell laughed. “I’m sad it got run down a bit, but it’s awesome that they’ve turned it into a community center. The atmosphere here has been very welcoming.”
For more information on the Trafton Community Center, email TraftonCC@gmail.com, or call 360-435-8027 or 510-329-8297.
