Special to the Transcript
As the leaves turn and the temperatures mellow, Project Play Winthrop Board would like to express our pride and gratitude for another amazing season of music, movement, community and PLAY at the Winthrop Farmers Market. Since this wonderful local market was revived in 2023, Project Play has been honored to be a part of what began as a bi-weekly, now weekly gathering of the community at Ingleside Park. Through our pop-up play station and steady rotation of kids music, yoga, stories and gross motor play, we have truly cherished the opportunity to be part of something that supports our local farms, artists and crafts people, brings joy to our little ones and their grownups, and brings our community together.
None of what we have accomplished as a small, volunteer nonprofit would be possible without the support of our local sponsors, donors and partners, as well as the people who frequent our program and events and drop a donation in our jar or spread the word to their family and friends. THANK YOU! In particular we would like to share our appreciation for the people who made our 2025 Farmers Market and summer events a success:
• The Board of Directors of The Winthrop Farmers Market for welcoming us with a regular designated space and sharing a portion of their grant monies to fund our children’s entertainment
• Winthrop Charities for their generous grant which allowed us to purchase a new shed for or play equipment at Ingleside Park
• Honan Sign for donating the classy sign we’ve just installed on the shed marking our name and appreciation for Winthrop Charities
• Mark Green from Green Specialty Services for installing our shed
• Evan Haller of Music and the Blissful, Sam Newcomber aka “Mr Sam”, Ralph Tufo aka “Captain Ralph”, Face Art by Niah, and Rockabye Beats for bringing the joy of music and movement to the children at our pop-up play station
• Everyone who volunteered to give us a hand with set up and clean up before/after every market!
We would also like to give a shout out to The Winthrop Marketplace for sponsoring our July series of Micro-Sports with Knuckblebones, complete with free popsicles after every session! And we can’t forget to reflect on the Family Night Out in July which was made extra special with free ice cream for kids from Riley’s Ice Cream!
Stay tuned for more exciting events and programs with Project Play this fall and winter, starting with our Annual Fall Clothing & Costume Swap at St.John’s Episcopal Church Hall (222 Bowdoin St) on Saturday 10/4 from 10-12 (clothing dropoff from 9-10). Simply bring last year’s costumes and swap them out for a new-to-your-kid costume this year! As always, we welcome volunteers- please email us at [email protected] or find us on Facebook or Instagram.
Those helping at the event include Julie Abreu, Phoebe Green, Mary Ahern, Elana Cogliano, Liz Bryant, Caitlin Perry and Julia Wallerce.