A Putnam
playscape: The
cherry on top
   By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — Before the town’s Summer Lunch program begins June 12, a playscape will be in place next to the Putnam Public Library.
April 21 Gerber Construction Services of Ellington laid the groundwork for the 40 by 80 foot playscape area. The area was dug out and process gravel was placed.
According to Library Director Priscilla Colwell, on Monday the fence posts will be installed. Following that the play equipment will be installed.
Town Administrator Elaine Sistare said, last fall, that after the equipment is in, a pour-in-place rubber material “ground” will be poured around the equipment, locking it in. That material will last decades and is ADA compliant, she said. The rubber material is tinged in “Putnam Blue.”
The cost for the equipment and the rubber “ground” is about $175,000. The project is funded through the Municipal Complex construction budget.
Colwell said the fence that will surround the area is a black chain link and is 4 feet tall. Two backless black metal benches will hug the edge of the oval-shaped area
There is a piece with four swings (two for tots) and another piece with a pod hopper, slides, a bridge, a lookout tower, ADA stairs and an interactive panel.
June 12 through around Aug. 11 the town’s Summer Lunch program is held at the complex. Colwell said the town offers free meals for kids 18 and younger weekdays. It is funded by a federal program. The public school meals are also offered at the Hale YMCA.
In addition through the IHPS, the accompanying adult receives a free lunch.
Colwell said the program averages 30 to 60 attendees each weekday. The town qualified for the free summer lunch program in 2009, she said, when it hit an “economic threshold” and more than 50 percent qualified for free or reduced lunches.
“We try to schedule programs before and after the summer lunches,” she said. Miniature horses, goats, singers, games and more are being scheduled.
Colwell said they are “very excited” about the programs that bring people into the library in the summertime.
“This playscape is the icing — no — the cherry on top.”

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