Dear Editor:

A sincere thank you to the Barre community and all friends, both individuals and groups, for your support of our efforts to improve the Mathewson Playground. Through a combination of donations, grants and a city allocation, we recently met our financial goal!

In late spring the city of Barre will be installing a new play unit with underlying safety surface. The equipment is geared to younger children, ages 3 through 12.

After years of focusing on infrastructure improvements, the Friends now plan to work with the Barre City Recreation Department and the Barre Promise Committee to host activities focused on families and young children. Our first event in 2018 will be a birthday party celebrating over 80 years of memories made on the historic Mathewson Playground with more to come! Our events will be announced in the newspaper, Front Porch Forum and the Friends of Mathewson, Barre City Recreation Department, Barre Promise Committee and Barre City Facebook pages.

If you are interested in joining the Friends, helping with an event, or holding an event on the playground please contact John Santorello at 479-0766, Stephanie Quaranta at 476-0257 or contact us through Facebook. Also, please be our eyes and ears for playground safety. If you see in appropriate behavior on the playground, please contact the Barre City police at 476-6613 or Jeff Bergeron, Barre City Facilities and Community Services Director at 476-0256. This will be a great help in keeping the playground a safe, inviting place for children and families.

Thank you again, you made this happen!

The Friends of Mathewson Playground