The Bainbridge Island Child Care Center is celebrating 50 years to the day on BI with a free community celebration Nov. 15.

Fun is the main event: expect food trucks, beer and wine, live music, kid’s crafting activities, movies and a pumpkin pie bar.

“These programs don’t just provide supervision for my kids—they offer valuable opportunities for social development and community connections,” said parent Peter O’Connell, whose three kids attend BICCC.

BICCC is the oldest licensed childcare organization on BI, and the only place that offers before-school care for elementary-age students. Its history is intertwined with BI’s changing workforce, but recent years indicate new challenges.

“Since COVID hit, it’s been a struggle,” BICCC director Shelley Long said. “We’ve been in the business of just trying to keep our doors open. Our preschool is pretty full most of the time, but the after-school care — I fear that the model has been broken.”

BICCC began in 1974 as the “Berry Day Care Center,” an option for migrant farm workers who came to BI to pick strawberries. Founders Meg Hageman and Joyce Veterane were lifelong advocates for local and state-level healthcare eduction, safe practices for children and social resilience, which they incorporated into the organization’s curriculum. They adopted the newer name after opening to all professions.

BI’s industry underwent a drastic change in the 1970s and ’80s, and community needs evolved quickly. Farmland began to shrink as land values rose and residential development boomed. The shipyard that had spurred much of the iconic industry of BI, like shipbuilding and canning, had closed decades earlier. But BICCC’s commitment to providing childcare for the working parent remained constant.

“Parents were getting up and taking that first ferry in the morning, so it was up to us to give the [kids] the nurturing, stimulate their brains, create bonds and friendships that’ll take them through their whole life,” she said.

The organization’s growth followed BI’s. BICCC built its “Little Red House” after-school center for its Big Kids and Kids Club programs behind Ordway Elementary School in 1990, on BI School District property — the same year that BI voted to incorporate the whole island into one city by a 136-vote margin. It remodeled its preschool on Cave Road in 2011. Long joined the organization in 2013, and orchestrated its move to the former Montessori school location on High School Road in 2018, which was retrofitted to suit BICCC’s needs in 2019.

Students attending the after school program get snack time, a designated homework hour or quiet reading time, outdoor play and guided activities. Several staff members have been working at BICCC for over 20 years.

One longtime teacher, Bridget Wilson, has a knack for the role. “The older kids always have hands-on PowerPoints and inventions that they do, and deep dive into the life of a famous author or things that kids are excited about,” Long said. Wilson “did a whole thing on Pokemon, and she’s got a whole table set up for Dungeons and Dragons.”

However, during COVID, enrollment for the school-age programs fell sharply, and never fully recovered, Long said. She speculates that the prevalence of remote work and availability of family members to provide childcare has diminished demand for after-school care. But she hopes to see it turn around as companies call workers back to the office.

“We’ve got staff coming back, kids coming back as staff and bringing their own preschoolers. We see this multi-generational touch that BICC has on the community, and that’s what we want to continue,” Long said.