A cool spray on a very hot day

The sounds of gleeful screams reverberate across the drenched soccer fields as bathing suit-clad youngsters tear through sprinklers set up across the grass.

For the 420 campers enrolled in the Summer Playground at the Rec Center, this is no ordinary Friday — it is Sprinkler Day, a weekly celebration of all things cooling and wet.

“Sprinkler Day is definitely a favorite for kids. It keeps them cool,” explained Maryann Catanzaro, assistant director of the Summer Playground at the Rec Center. “Sometimes we hold emergency Sprinkler Days if it’s just too hot.”

The Summer Playground, which is in its 56th consecutive year, is located in three sites across the village — Hewitt and Wilson elementary schools as well as the Rec Center. Meeting daily from 9 am to noon, over 700 children in grades one through six are treated to dress-up and movie days, as well as numerous rock climbing, bowling and other fun excursions.

Since there is no public pool in the village, the Summer Playground staff has resorted to Sprinkler Days for many years to provide some cool respite for their campers. More than 20 groups of children are given time to bask in the cool water of over 10 sprinklers that are set up on the Rec Center’s soccer fields.

Ginger Creegan, coordinator of the Summer Playground at the Rec Center, thinks highly of the sprinkle days. “They’re entertaining and fun,” she said.