A community institution turns 40 next week.

The Langley Community Club will be celebrating its 40th anniversary at its regularly scheduled potluck, 6 p.m. on Monday, May 7 at Brookhaven Hall in Langley.

“The direction of the club, since I’ve been there, is the beautification of Langley,” said Tucker Stevens, a club member. “We’ve really had great results with the beautification of Second Street with the trees.”

Last year the club planted a number of trees with the help of Langley Public Works and volunteers, and this spring they are in full bloom.

Club members have also been instrumental in bringing the Soup Box Derby back to town.

“We’ve brought the fun back to Langley,” Stevens said.

The club is not just hard work. It also has a major social component.

“What I am getting out of it is friendship,” Stevens said. But finishing off a community project with a bunch of friends also has its perks.

“You have such a sense of accomplishment,” he said.

Stevens said he proudly shows off the Second Street tree project to visitors from out of town.

“I turn to my visiting friends and children and say, ‘I did that.’”

In the past 40 years the group has left its mark on Langley.

Historians Ethel and Bob Waters said the Langley Community Club was formed in April l967.

The idea of a club began with Lynn Young, wife of the principal at Langley High School. The original intent for forming the club was to provide a community meeting place and to provide amenities to the community not available through normal tax dollars. The family who owned the Star Store was instrumental early on.

“The Primavera family offered the top floor of their building for a monthly meeting place. You know this now as the Prima Bistro restaurant,” Bob Waters said.

By July of 1967, the club had attracted 57 members, many representing many of the old-time families in the area.

Currently, there are only 25-30 members registered and about 15 active members, Stevens said.

A donation a few years after the group got going changed the club’s fortune, when Bud and Margaret Waterman donated the lot at Second and Anthes streets.

In 1973, the club was able to lease the southern portion of the lot to the Whidbey Press and collected a monthly rent of $366 for 15 years.

The property was finally sold in December 1998 to the Whidbey Press for $45,000. The money was invested and the club continues to use interest from the sale for community purposes today.

In recent years, the club organized the planting of the trees on Second Street and organized an annual clean-up day of downtown Langley. A generator was purchased for the comfort of the seniors at Brookhaven Hall. Funds were also given to the Historical Society’s renovation of the museum, the new windows at City Hall, to the library for remodeling needs, to Whidbey’s Children’s Theater, and to many other associations.

Scholarships and awards to community causes are considered each year by the disbursement committee, as well.

The Langley Community Club encourages residents of Langley and greater South Whidbey to join and continue the proud history of this club. In order for the club to exist another 40 years, new members are needed, members said. And Monday’s celebration is a great way to get aquainted.

To learn more call Stevens at 221-4188.

The celebration is a potluck and the public is encouraged to attend. Bring your favorite Mexican casserole or salad. Dessert will be provided.