At Augustus St. Gaudens Playground, at East 20th Street and Second Avenue, the May 2022 cleanup brought neighborhood families together around a practical task. With a professional power-washing team helping, volunteers cleaned playground equipment and other fixtures.

The Gramercy Park Block Association sponsored the event, which local resident Florie Huppert organized. The Block Association’s May 24 follow-up thanked the community and shared photographs of the work.

Craft activities and a book swap gave children other ways to take part. The occasion joined useful work with the ordinary pleasures of a neighborhood gathering.

It also continued a longer tradition of families caring for public spaces. Read about the earlier P.S. 40 playground partnership and the children’s daffodil-planting project.

A worker power-washes the rubber surface beside the slides at Augustus St. Gaudens Playground.
Power washing at the GPBA-supported Augustus St. Gaudens Playground cleanup, May 2022.
A volunteer crouches beside a park bench and cleans its armrest during the playground cleanup.
Neighbors helped clean playground fixtures at Augustus St. Gaudens Playground, May 2022.
Children gather around a table with colorful craft materials at the playground event.
Children’s craft activities at the Augustus St. Gaudens Playground cleanup, May 2022.
Sources

Adapted from the dated Block Association publication below.