Why is there nothing to do in Brookings?

Chandler Blair & Jeremiah Martel

April 3, 2024

Brookings is a small town with very few people and very few things to do. We would like to change that. We want to get more activities for the youth and for teenagers in town-- things like arcades. 

Things got this way because Brookings isn't really much of a town where you come to live. Some people come here just to buy vacation homes, and since this happened, people think of it more as a “retirement town” more than anything. 

Lately, it’s becoming more than that. More people are moving here and are not being happy with their choice because of the options for activities for their children or them and that's why we are trying to get more things to do around town because if we don't that might be all Brookings is– a retirement town. 

If we don't start adding new things to this town people might start leaving just because they didn't know that they could help or because they just didn't want to stay because there was nothing to do here in Brookings.

It is possible to add new activities to the town if we can come together and convince the county to help us with these things, just like how the skatepark was built. 

It was able to be built because of a group of kids that were also tired of there being not much to do in this town. They got together and decided that they were going to talk to County Commissioners. The adults were generous enough to listen and actually build a skatepark for the kids. 

It started with an idea about the skate park that had been around for about 4-5 years before the park was built. It all started when the Brookings-Harbor Rotary Club made the first donation of $6,000 dollars, which made more people want to help out, because after that, there were a couple more donations. It wasn't until two anonymous donations came through that really got things going. 

One donation was for $10,000 dollars and later another anonymous donation of $100,000 dollars. Even other businesses were wanting to help-- some places gave them a huge discount on tools filler dirt and much more. The project was complete in December of 2001, but the grand opening wasn't until June 8, 2002, and it is now located in Bud Cross Park.

The present situation of entertainment value could be a concern to the community. It is the teens and kids that are the ones who focus most on the entertainment value of the town. Most of the age groups are not very concerned about it. 

“Giving students occasions to learn through play not only fosters creative thinking, problem solving, independence, and perseverance, but also addresses teenagers’ developmental needs for greater independence and ownership in their learning, opportunities for physical activity and creative expression, and the ability to demonstrate competence“ says Hilary Conklin in her Times article. 

What entertainment value causes is a mass value time of creativity of mindset and ideal thinking of their own, which could develop a teen in a positive way. It is also possible for children to start early by developing their brains in a way so they can start on their own in many ways, such as thinking on their own, doing common tasks on their own, and playing games on their own. 

Kids sit here and complain that there is nothing to do in this town when they don't even try to get the county to put new things in for us. 

On the other hand, the county could take kids and teens into account more when they start hearing that they were getting bored and want new things to do in this town, but it is hard to do that when the thing you build for them isn't appreciated or used. 

All we need to do is go to the county with an idea of what we want and maybe a way how to help fund that project 

All that needs to happen is for us to come together as a community to raise money and figure out what we can put in the town that will make the kids happy and their parents happy. 

We could do this by coming together figuring out what we want first find a way to fund it by doing things like car washes, and things of that nature to get some money to put some new things for the kids and young adults so in the future we don't have to hear the same thing that we are hearing today.    

The only thing stopping us from building the things we want is us. 

Once we are able to come together as a community and talk about the things we would like to add to this town. Once we are able to get the first thing built it should be easy to figure out how were going to get the rest of what we want-- but until all of this happens, we will still be sitting complaining that there's nothing to do and still choose to be bored instead of acting and helping do something that's not just for you but your community as well. 

What we could do for the future of entertainment value is we could start to organize and create funds for entertainment buildings like recreational centers and fun activity buildings. 

County Commissioner Jay Trost says he couldn't build a Rec Center, an idea that the adults were working on, because when the city put up a vote, citizens rejected the proposal. 

“We need the younger voices to voice those things because if you leave it up to the adults to figure out what activities are current to the kids, a lot of the time, it's not going to be what kids are interested in,” Trost said.

What the community can do to solve entertainment value solutions is have younger voices speak upon the solutions of entertainment value.  

There are many ways to fix the entertainment value in a town, to start the community could start fundraisers to fund any fun activities they would enjoy but take a vote for the activities or buildings for activities like rec center or indoor  sport buildings. 

One way that the community could start fundraiser is by coming up with a sports program that could fund a building or activity center by having kids or younger adults pay for a membership or a monthly plan with bonuses.

The money and participation and votes is the main problems for a entertainment value this is why many young adults that are bored or depressed could start  by helping out and taking charge for entertainment value. What the community could do is advertise and communicate about the situation and start fundraisers to solve the money problem.

Photo Credit: https://www.pickpik.com/rain-children-sad-bored-view-window-58701#google_vignette