While growth has pushed out all but a few agricultural and dairy farmers protected by city farmland preservation measures, many longtime residents have not considered leaving. In fact, the tendency for Kent natives to remain has prompted an ongoing city mission to meet the needs of Kent's growing senior population. A senior activity center is one of the busier buildings in town.
Locals meet there, take classes and shoot pool.
Jack Becvar, former president of the Greater Kent Historical Society and executive director of a new society museum opening in July, remembers picking beans in the valley and sledding down East Hill's James Street in the winters when police barricaded streets for youngsters. The valley used to be prime farmland. It was an agricultural center until after the war, with some canneries and frozen food plants. . . During the war, Japanese farmers in the valley were uprooted, dispossessed of land and belongings, and transferred to internment camps. Town historians say that changed the demographics of Kent, created a labor shortage and left a sad legacy.