Long before the politicians showed up for the official ribbon cutting ceremony on Aug. 8, Lloyd Banks leaned against a black railing of the renovated Mary Moss playground in Princeton.
Banks, 84, stood under the shade of a large tree that was around when on hot summer days like this one, he would come to the playground at the corner of John and Lytle streets. His mind brought him back to when as many as 75 children would be there, kids just like the day campers who waited for the politicians to finish their speeches so they could play in the new water “sprayground” the municipality had installed.
Princeton officials spent some $700,000 to renovate the playground, a project that was more than a year late, but judging by the yelps of the children playing under the water, they did not seem to mind the delay.
“Thank you everybody who came out to be part of a special day. A new chapter in the long, proud history of this space starts today,” said Benjamin Stentz, the executive director of the municipal recreation department.
Dressed in a lime green T-shirt marking the reopening of the playground, Stentz told the crowd he had played at Mary Moss as a boy growing up in Princeton.
Mercer County Executive Brian M. Hughes used to come here, too, as a child. As the son of a former governor, he spoke of coming to Mary Moss, where there used to be a small pool, some swing sets “and not much more.”
“Now I look at it, and what a beautiful park and what a beautiful community resource it’s going to be for years to come,” Hughes said. “This space brings back a lot memories to me.”
The project was paid for with a mix of municipal and county funds. Though originally intended to be completed in 2017, the renovation was pushed back to this year. Some weather-related and other delays held it up again, with the ceremony this week.
“The park isn’t fully complete until life is brought to it,” Mayor Liz Lempert said. “So I want to thank, in advance, all of these excellent people behind me who are going to have the honor of initiating the spray park and bringing life into the park, which is the final ingredient.”
Those “excellent people” were the first- and second-graders in the recreation department’s day camp, who played in the water until it was time for them to leave.
Stentz said he hopes those children, when they get older, come back to the playground and remember the “fond memories” of being there with their friends.
“What I hope we’ve done here is build a new space that will be here for another 75 years, like the previous one was, and will build on that,” Stentz said.
“This is a place that has a lot of memories and love built into it over the years,” Lempert said.
The mayor had the honor of pushing the button to usher in the sprayground. From there, the children took over.
