WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE: Children from the Princeton Recreation Department’s summer programs were the first to try out the Mary Moss Playground’s new sprayground at the reopening of the park last week. Judging from their screams of joy, they approved. (Photo by Scotia Macrae)

By Anne Levin

The official reopening of the Mary Moss Playground last week marked the last of the revitalizations of Princeton’s small pocket parks. The August 8 ribbon-cutting ceremony, which concluded with the ecstatic yelps of children negotiating the new sprayground, marked a milestone for the Witherspoon/Jackson historic district.

“A new chapter in a long, proud history of this space starts today,” said Ben Stentz, the executive director of Princeton’s Recreation Department. Stentz was instrumental in the renovation of the park at John and Lytle streets. The project, financed through a mix of county and municipal funding, was originally scheduled for completion a year ago.

Stentz’s introduction to the crowd was followed by brief remarks from Mayor Liz Lempert, Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes, and Mercer County Freeholder Andrew Koontz, who has been actively involved in the pocket parks since his days on Princeton Borough Council. In addition to Mary Moss Playground, those spaces include Quarry Park on Spruce Street, Barbara Boggs Sigmund Park on Chestnut Street, Maggie’s Playground on Spruce Street, Potts Park on Tee-Ar Place, Bradford/Pine Street Park, and the larger Harrison Street Park.

“They’ve all had some attention,” said Koontz in a telephone interview after the Mary Moss opening. “But Mary Moss has gotten the biggest makeover. It was a complete gut rehab, the most extensive I’ve seen. Removing and replacing a water feature [a small wading pool was taken out] — that’s big.”

The circa 1940s park was originally called the John Street Playground. It was renamed in 1992 for Mary Moss, who took care of children at the nearby Princeton Nursery School and supervised them at the park. In addition to the replacement of the wading pool, renovations include new playground equipment, landscaping, a pavilion with picnic benches, a bike rack, and a book nook, on two levels.

“This park is important to the neighborhood,” said Koontz. “It holds a special place in the hearts of a lot of folks, and it was still seeing a lot of use when we went in to rehabilitate it, unlike the Pine and Harrison street parks which had been neglected and were under-utilized.”

During his time on Borough Council from 2004 to 2010, Koontz tried to stress the importance of parks that are for leisurely enjoyment as opposed to structured recreation. “They were talking about playing fields and coached sports. I wanted the community to focus on passive use and unstructured play,” he said, “where kids can make their own fun in an environment where not every move is dictated by an adult.”

The Mary Moss renovation cost $700,000. In their remarks at the opening, both Stentz and Hughes spoke of using the park as children. “It brings back a lot of memories for me,” said Hughes.

When Koontz was elected to Borough Council, most of the town’s pocket parks were in a state of neglect. “Since that time, we’ve seen new playground equipment go into all of them,” he said. “I’m just glad to have been part of all that. This needs to be ongoing, and that was part of my message. The ribbon-cutting should not be an end.”

Koontz praised New York City for its establishment and maintenance of pocket parks as a place for passive enjoyment, for all ages. “We need to do that better here in Princeton,” he said. “Mary Moss Playground is a community space. It’s a step in the right direction.”