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Welcome to the Dryden Community Center Café!

In the summer of 2007, a group of Dryden community members had the dream of creating a not-for-profit cafe in the heart of the village. At the time, Main St. had multiple empty storefronts and was featured in a gubernatorial campaign ad talking about revitalizing our state. These passionate community members saw the need for a place for community members to gather, for groups to meet, and for volunteers to serve. Throughout that fall and winter, countless volunteers renovated the space at 1 W. Main St to prepare to open as a cafe and coffee shop as well as a community center. Other volunteers lent their expertise in the areas of business planning and development, volunteer recruitment, menu planning and more.

On February 29, 2008, the Dryden Community Center Cafe opened its doors.It quickly became known as a place to get the best coffee and pastries in town, a place to get a great lunch of homemade soup, quiche, or a panini, and a place to meet friends new and old. In addition, it was used as a meeting place by many community groups, and provided volunteer opportunities for many volunteers. A core group of committed volunteers worked tirelessly along with the managers to keep this community resource going. The cafe had loyal regulars for coffee, pasta night, and comfort food Fridays. The annual chili cook-off and apple pie contest became a fall favorite. DC3 also served as a music venue for local musicians and a gallery space where local visual artists could display their work. Over the years, many free family events were sponsored by and held at DC3.

For 12 years, DC3 operated on the corner in the heart of our community. On January 31, 2020, the retail operation closed, but the not-for-profit 501c3 organization, Dryden Community Center Cafe, continues to exist. Since its inception, the focus of the Dryden Community Center Café has been community, with the mission to provide a place for the community to gather and connect. Because of the effort needed to keep the retail part of the organization running, the community center aspect often had to take a back seat, but this aspect is vital to our community. The current board of directors has met regularly since February to look at what’s next for the organization.

In early June, the existing DC3 Board held a "mission retreat" where they brainstormed about what’s next for the Dryden Community Center Café and developed a new mission statement.
 
The mission of the Dryden Community Center Café is to contribute to a healthy and sustainable community by offering the Dryden community opportunities to promote, develop, and maintain social, emotional, and educational well-being. This will happen by connecting the needs of the community with programs and services and providing a place for this connection to happen.

There may be more questions than answers, but one thing is certain; to fulfill the mission, we need people! Right now, there are three opportunities for passionate community members to help bring this new mission to life:
  1. DC3 Board member (2 seats currently open) - this is the voting body of the 501C3.
  2. Coalition member - this is the working group that will be made up of DC3 board members and other community members
  3. Supporter - these are people who think this is a great idea but don’t have the time to commit.
We will have a list-serve that will provide news/progress reports/volunteer opportunities and ways to get involved.

If this is an idea that interests you, send an email to drydencommunitycafe@gmail.com and we'll be in touch!