The Henleyfield Community is located on Highway 43 North and, according to their website, is home to about 2,000 people.
With that in mind, members of Henleyfield Community Inc. raised funds to build a pavilion, playgrounds and other amenities at the Henleyfield Community Center for community members to enjoy.
The facilities at the community center are used for many events, including family reunions, baby showers, birthday parties and meetings, Henleyfield Community Inc. vice-president Paulette Fortenberry said.
“Last year, we had more than 200 (bookings),” she said. “HCI also hosts events including the Blues Festival, yard sale and Heritage Day for the older community members, who are honored and share stories about Henleyfield. There are a lot of different things we do throughout the year.”
At this time, the facilities at Henleyfield Community Center are only available to community members, which is in the Henleyfield Fire District, Fortenberry said.
“People who don’t live in the community can be sponsored by someone they know that lives here,” she said. “There is a $25 deposit to rent the facilities and, if everything is cleaned, they get that back. We do have yearly and charter HCI memberships available.”
A user’s agreement must be filled out, Fortenberry said. These can be printed from the Henleyfield website and brought to Fortenberry’s Custom Slaughter Plant. Interested parties can also pick up a hard copy of the agreement at the business.
The Henleyfield Community Center is home to a pavilion with picnic tables, two playgrounds, a walking track and two small buildings, Fortenberry said.
There is a ball field where people used to play, but is currently not equipped for regular play at this time, she said.
“We are hoping to turn it into a working baseball field,” Fortenberry said. “We met with Malcolm Perry and the Board of Supervisors and they are going to help us do some things to have the bleachers and dugouts redone. If they don’t have games on it, they can it at least use it for practice.”
The center is also used as a voting precinct during elections, she said.
“Everyone loves it,” she said. “Henleyfield is a wonderful group of people. The community is so helpful in raising money. We raised it ourselves because we wanted to do it for our community so everyone can know their neighbor.”
Learn more about the Henleyfield Community Center at www.henleyfield.com.