The foundations have yet to be poured for the new Edmonds Waterfront Center being built on the site of the now-demolished Edmonds Senior Center, but staff is already working on the its core mission to bring the generations together. The latest example was an Intergenerational Trivia event Friday afternoon at downtown’s Trinity Church on Daley Street.
“We’ve actually been running these Intergenerational Trivia sessions for about 18 months,” said Daniel Johnson, who is carrying over his role from the former Edmonds Senior Center’s all-round everything guy into the new Community Waterfront Center. “This is the fifth one we’ve done so far, and more are coming up later this fall.”
The event is designed to bring the generations together by teaming up seniors with high school students and other young people to compete as a unit in a fast-paced trivia contest. Team members pool their knowledge, laugh together and get to know each other, all while competing for fun prizes and enjoying pizza courtesy of the senior center, and treats provided event sponsor Red Twig Bakery.
Participants got in the spirit right from the start. Hands shot up immediately when organizers posed the “easy” questions, but many required collaboration between the team members, providing the perfect opportunity to share knowledge across generations.
One particularly difficult question asked “what is the longest river in the United States?” The event organizers had the correct answer as the Missouri River, but it just took a quick Google search by contestant Deb Brandi to prove that it all depends on where you define the beginning and the end of the river. According to one authority, the Missouri stretches 2,341 miles and the Mississippi only 2,206. But another puts the Mississippi at 2,348, beating out the Missouri by seven miles! The solution: Both teams were declared winners!
Sound like fun? Want to get in on the action? Johnson will be putting out advance announcements of future sessions to local news outlets and will post information on the Senior Center/Waterfront Center website.
“We don’t have a solid date at this point,” he added. “But stay tuned! We’re looking at sometime between late October and mid-November.”
— Story and photos by Larry Vogel
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