Volunteers gathered at Marine Park on Saturday morning to help clean up, repaint and refurbish Lenape Playground, located at Avenue U and East 37th Street.
Throughout the morning, volunteers swept up leaves, added a fresh coat of paint on benches and fences, and a muralist added a new layer of “skin” to the park’s iconic snake sculpture.
“Lenape Playground needed to spruce up and repaint, so we were able to get an artist to come in and take care of snake park and had volunteers come in and do their part,” said Maria Carro D’Alessandro, president of the Marine Park Alliance (MPA).
Danielle Mastrion, a muralist, was asked to repaint the snake sculpture with more vivid colors to help revitalize the playground. Mastrion previously painted a mural at the entrance of Shirley Chisholm State Park, the rear wall of Gargiulo’s restaurant on Stillwell Avenue and the New York Aquarium, among other locations.
“I’m hoping that the super bright colors bring more people into the park,” said Mastrion. “Bright colors tend to make people happy and I want the park to be inviting, welcoming and a safe, fun place for everyone to come.”
Afterward, children participated in the MPA’s JUST FOR KIDS event, Walk This Way, in which they circled through a labyrinth and breathed among the trees, curated by Christine Walker, a breath facilitator.
“The labyrinth is gonna be a tool to help kids get back to their breath,” said Walker. “I’m gonna have them concentrate, feel their emotions, so that they can walk the labyrinth, in a cool, calm, collected manner. It can teach kids how to be a little kinder to themselves, toward others, just by slowing down.”