Happy New Year, one and all. It’s time to rest up from the holiday season and get ready to celebrate again — this time at the official re-opening of the newly re-named Waterfront Park Community Center building which includes our Bainbridge Island Senior Center.

Although we have begun to move our activities back into the building, the official re-opening celebration is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 23, beginning at 11 a.m., directly following the Bainbridge Island Senior Center annual meeting at 10. This is an event you won’t want to miss, so here is what you need to know.

The public is invited to join the party for the grand opening of the Waterfront Park Community Center and of course we are included. Representatives from the city of Bainbridge Island, the Bainbridge Island Metropolitan Park & Recreation District and the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center will all be participating.

Why so many dignitaries from so many organizations? Because all of these groups played a part in creating the improvements that have transformed the Waterfront Park Community Center. The building is owned by the city, managed by the parks district and home to both the nonprofit senior center, Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center, and the Park District’s 50+ On the Go programs.

The grand opening will begin with a welcome from Jane Allan, the senior center’s recently retired former director. Her talk will provide brief histories of the senior center, the remodel project and the building’s name change.

Councilwoman Debbi Lester will discuss the financing of the project through the city of Bainbridge Island councilmanic bonds and senior center nonprofit funds, the formation and purpose of a task force for the project and the importance of public/private cooperation to make it all happen.

Bainbridge Parks board member Lee Cross will talk about the design of the new building in relation to its programming and the parks district’s role in the process. She will be followed by Don Dorman, who will recognize the contributions of the architects, designers and contractors to the project and explain how the selections were done.

Sue Barrington, our newly appointed director of the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center, will conclude this part of the program with comments on the many partners that made the Waterfront Park Community Center a reality and an envisioning of the future for this special place.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony which follows will be handled by the mayor and Don Fisher, past president of the senior center, who was so much a part of the re-model project which happened during his term as board director. Tours of the building will follow, with refreshments provided by the senior center’s social committee led by Delores Bussell.

Everyone is invited to make Wednesday, Jan. 23 a banner day, because the Waterfront Park Community Center belongs to all of Bainbridge Island. You won’t want to miss this important event. Come early to join the opening at 11 a.m. and learn about Bainbridge Island’s newest facility. Take a tour, see old friends and make some new ones while enjoying the refreshments. You may even want to check out rental opportunities of these fresh new facilities for your personal events.

If you are a senior center member, you should arrive an hour earlier for the senior center’s annual meeting at 10 a.m. to have a say in the election of the board members who will serve us for the next two years. Then get ready to celebrate with everyone else at 11 a.m. for the official opening of the building we call home.