The City of Ellensburg Parks and Recreation’s youth programs began in the late 80’s and early 90’s as a Friday night and weekend program, offering dances and late night events to youth. At this time the program was called “Youth Unlimited” and was based out of the Armory across the street from Memorial Park / Pool.
In 1998 the City purchased the current location, at 406 E. Capitol across from Morgan Middle School on Capitol and Anderson Streets, which was formerly a grocery store.
Most of the exterior structure of the former grocery store remains, the majority of the interior has been renovated. Interior demolition and remodeling of the building was done throughout 1999 and early 2000 by numerous youth and adult volunteers.
In February 2001 the “Youth Unlimited” program moved to the current location and the youth programs and building were renamed the “Ellensburg Youth and Community Center”.
The building has since undergone a series of renovations, to bring it to its current state.
In 2010 the Ellensburg City Council held a meeting at the then “Ellensburg Youth and Community Center” (EYCC), and surprised Stan by renamed the EYCC the “Stan Bassett Youth Center” (SBYC) in his honor. During the announcement family members surprised Stan and joined him in the celebration. The City Council also declared May 3rd “Stan Bassett Day” to honor Stan for his decades of service as a city councilman, his support of the development of youth programs and his mentoring and guidance of youth, teens, college students, and adults.
