Music has become a major draw at The Den, Maple Valley’s youth center, which recently celebrated its first birthday.

The Den, which is in a 3,600 square foot modular building next door to the Greater Maple Valley Community Center, opened in January 2008 after more than a decade of planning.

Shelly Mitchell, a member of the Senior Youth Council at the community center, pointed to the annual Battle of the Bands as one of the highlights of The Den’s first year.

“It’s fun for everyone,” Mitchell said. “A bunch of people come. They just listen to music and eat food and hang out and it’s really fun.”

Concerts are another big draw, according to Thomas Petit, who also serves on the Youth Council and has been a part of the planning for The Den since he was in seventh grade.

“The big accomplishments have been things like the fundraising concerts we’ve had here,” Petit said. “There was the Darfur concert where they raised money for children in Darfur.”

It used to be a struggle for community center staff to offer youth-oriented programs because they shared the original building with seniors as well as family programming.

Such activities have long been offered at the community center, but the growth of Maple Valley has far surpassed what staff could do in the original building.

“It’s nice to have a dedicated building now,” Petit said. “It was really kind of a stress having to share the other building.”

Another thing he expects to entice kids to check out The Den will be the new recording studio. Work was complete on that in January and local bands will be able to come in lay down tracks.

“That will be a big draw,” Petit said. “I wouldn’t mind getting together with my friends and putting together some songs.”

Mitchell said the Youth Council would like to host even more concerts because kids like them so much because it’s “people playing that are our age.”

Kristiane Byers, a youth program coordinator for The Den, said “the past year has been awesome” and that the concerts are drawing anywhere from 70 to 120 kids.

“I’m getting requests all the time for new concerts,” Byers said. “That’s really exciting.”

The staff also has tried out ideas for things like murder mystery nights, as well as offering gaming nights for popular titles like Halo, and recently they began offering Open Mic Night as a high school only event. The Den is open to students in sixth through 12th grade.

“Guitar Hero and all of (the video games), everybody loves to come play,” Byers said. “The computer lab is also a huge draw. We try to reach out to different populations.”

Byers said staff go out to the middle schools and try to spread the word by playing games with students at lunch time. Members of the Youth Council also promote events at The Den by posting flyers, talking to their friends and some schools even include activities in their daily announcements.

“We’ve got a great Web site now,” she said. “It’s updated daily with all of our events. We do the best that we can.”

Bands who play concerts at The Den are also encouraged to help promote the shows and raise awareness of the youth center.

Staff have spent some time reflecting on the first year and are busy planning events for the rest of 2009 to make it a better place for kids to go.

One activity both the Youth Council and staff are excited about is the Maple Valley Amazing Race slated for May 2 which is being planned in partnership with Maple Valley Communities That Care.

Petit said that he believes The Den is doing what its planners and benefactors — the city of Maple Valley, King County, the United Way among others — had in mind when it was in the planning stages.

“I do know some people who have come here and hang out here who made a lot better choices than if they were out behind QFC,” he said. “It’s a controlled environment where you can’t make extremely bad choices but it’s still a free enough environment where you can still have fun.”

Mitchell is proud of The Den.

“It’s had a positive impact because it’s a way for people to not be in a drug or alcohol environment,” she said. “We’re open for anyone to come in and it’s a fun alternative.”