Playground Program

For more than 50 years, children have spent their summers at the parks and playgrounds in Jamestown, and this summer is no exception. The City of Jamestown's Parks and Recreation Department will again offer its summer playground program.

The program began Monday and will run through Aug. 7 at seven sites in Jamestown. All children ages 5 to 13 years old are welcome to attend, said Julia Ciesla-Hanley, recreation coordinator for the City of Jamestown.

Each day the program begins at 9 a.m. and runs until noon when they will break for lunch. Free school lunches are available if desired. After lunch, the activities start up again at 1 p.m. and end at 5 p.m.

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For more than 50 years, children have spent their summers at the parks and playgrounds in Jamestown, and this summer is no exception. The program began Monday and will run through Aug. 7 at seven sites in Jamestown. All children ages 5 to 13 years old are welcome to attend. Participating area locations include Lincoln School, Love School, Fletcher School, Roger School, Ring School, Johnson Street Tot Lot and Lillian Dickson Tot Lot.
P-J photo by Abram Brown

Children must register the first time they go to one of the parks, and a parent must accompany them to sign up, Ciesla-Hanley said.

"Once they're signed up, the children aren't required to be there," Ciesla-Hanley said, "they can come and go as they please.

Participating children can come just for a few hours in the morning and leave before the afternoon session or vice versa, Ciesla-Hanley said.

The activities, like the program itself, are simple but summer staples. They include arts and crafts, hula hoop and watermelon-eating contests, jump rope, box hockey, sidewalk-chalk drawing, and kick ball tournaments. The program also features some larger activities like a talent show at Allen Park and a carnival at Bergman Park, too.

Each park has two supervisors, usually 18-year-old college students majoring in education, said Ciesla-Hanley. The positions are filled mostly by word-of-mouth, and many supervisors return year to year.

"This is another good hands-on experience (for the supervisors)," Ciesla-Hanley said. "Since they're in education, it gives them the chance to be role models to these kids."

The times have changed, yes, but summer hasn't for children at the Jamestown parks.

"This is a staple of something we've had here in Jamestown," Ciesla-Hanley said. "It gives kids an organized activity in the summertime, and it gives the kids a chance to see other kids in the neighborhood."