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Vienna will revisit the 1960s on April 17, 2026, as the town celebrates six decades since opening Northern Virginia’s first community center designed to serve residents of all ages.

The Parks and Recreation Department will host a 60th-anniversary open house from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Vienna Community Center, 120 Cherry Street SE. A ceremonial cake cutting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

The event will feature self-guided tours, a photo memory wall and giveaways. Attendees will also be invited to share their own stories about the center’s history.

The community center opened and was dedicated in 1966, but the effort to build it began 20 years earlier. In 1946, the Vienna Lions Club contributed the first $1,500 to a grassroots fundraising campaign.

Supporters eventually raised the $125,000 needed to construct the facility on a 2.6-acre site along Cherry Street.

The center has remained at that location while undergoing several expansions and renovations. Its largest recent transformation was completed in September 2017, adding a full-sized gymnasium, new lobby and restrooms, and refurbished classrooms.

That roughly $13 million project modernized much of the nearly 43,000-square-foot building’s exterior and internal systems while preserving some original brick walls. It also expanded the center’s role as a hub for town services, classes, social programs, recreation and community events.

One feature envisioned during the renovation process never materialized: a swimming pool that a feasibility study found would be too expensive.

Interest in a public pool has continued. Residents have since backed the idea of an aquatics and fitness center at the former Vienna Faith Baptist Church property, 301 Center Street South. However, yard signs criticizing the proposal as a “small pool, big cost” signal that expense remains a contentious issue nearly a decade after the community center’s renovation.