The McLean Community Center (MCC) is now old enough to qualify for its own “Seniors in Action” program.
The community center will start celebrating 50 years of providing events, cultural enrichment, classes and other services with a special event tomorrow (Saturday) at 7 p.m. in the Alden Theatre (1234 Ingleside Avenue), kicking off a full year of festivities.
Hosted by the Friends of the McLean Community Center with support from the McLean Project for the Arts (MPA), the 50th Anniversary Kickoff Celebration will center on a talk by local historian and former MCC Governing Board member Carole Herrick, who will discuss how MCC got established and its early history.
Herrick’s talk will be followed by the premiere of a commemorative video created for the anniversary and a reception. MPA’s Emerson Gallery will open at 6 p.m., allowing visitors to view its current exhibition “Vibrant Matter: Works from Wood” before the celebration.
The event is free and open to the general public, but MCC is requesting that anyone interested in attending RSVP via an email to feedback@mcleancenter.org, according to a press release.
Led by a committee of current and former board members, community members and staff, MCC has spent years planning its 50th anniversary celebration, Executive Director Betsy May-Salazar said in a message in MCC’s winter-spring 2025 program guide.
Last year, MCC put out a call for local artists to craft a mural for the Old Firehouse Center (1440 Chain Bridge Road) and a sculpture that will be installed in the plaza at the community center’s entrance. The year will also bring a commemorative tree planting, a kiosk showcasing MCC’s history and opportunities for the public to share photos, memories and stories on an online site dubbed “My MCC Memories.”
The festivities will officially culminate with a 50th Anniversary Community Celebration on Oct. 18.
“Music, food and fun are on the menu at this elevated community-wide party that offers something for every decade MCC has existed,” May-Salazar wrote in the program guide.
Opened in 1975, the McLean Community Center resulted from a decade of organizing, lobbying and fundraising by a group that would become the Friends of the MCC. In addition to identifying and acquiring the property where the facility would be built, the group advocated for the center to be funded by a special real estate tax surcharge, approved by voters in 1970, and to be overseen by an elected governing board, rather than appointed board members.
MCC now offers a variety of educational and cultural activities, operates the Alden Theatre and Old Firehouse Center for teens, and hosts community events, such as the annual McLean Day festival.
