Community Center Open House Focuses on Fall Program Participation

Many Montgomery County residents learned about the events, programs and classes offered at the Potomac Community Center at Sunday's open house event.

The open house, which took place from noon until 4 p.m., gave people the chance to stop by the Potomac Community Center and get information about fall programming and learn about activities at the center. This was the first year the Potomac Community Center has hosted an open house event, said Judy Stiles, the Public Relations Specialist for the Montgomery County Department of Recreation.

"We want to do some outreach and remind people that there are many programs going on at the center year-round," Stiles said. "After summer it is back to school and back to work, but we want to let people know it is also back to recreation."

Many of Montgomery County's community centers see a drop off in program attendance once school starts back because many families use the centers for the summer programs, but forget to sign up for programs during other season, Stiles said. This fall, there are programs for all ages at the Potomac Community Center including sports teams, art classes, dance lessons and music classes.

Volunteers handed out information about senior programs, children's activities and upcoming events at the community center.  Also, many families enjoyed playing billiards, air hockey and fooseball in the center's game room.

Lukusa Ngoya and her son, Joshua Kaeasela attended the open house event to see what was new at the center and play some of the games in the game room. Ngoya said her sons will attend the Club Friday program after seeing information about it at the center.

Club Friday is a get-together at the Potomac Community Center for children in 3rd grade through 6th grade every Friday evening. Club Friday, which costs a $65 membership fee, includes activities like basketball, billiards, Bingo, ping-pong, indoor soccer and dances.

The open house will hopefully improve attendance for the Potomac Community Center's fall programs, Stiles said. Registration for fall programs is ongoing.