EBCAP Picnic Gives Students 'Head Start' On Summer

School for the the  in Middletown will not end until June 17, but the organization's annual picnic held June 2 gave the young students a jump on summer fun.

Two types of moon-bounces, pony rides by the Middletown-based Ponies-to-Go and a petting zoo featuring baby animals by Farm Visits of Rehoboth drew the biggest lines of the day, while face painting, a BBQ picnic and plenty of playground play-time certainly brought many smiles to the faces of hundreds of children, their families and faculty who joined in the fun.

Head Start students from throughout Newport County attended the event, which took place on the playground and town Parks & Recreation field behind the EBCAP Joel Peckham Head Start Center in Middletown on Green End Avenue.

Besides the ponies and baby animals, the picnic offered lots of fun ways to bounce the afternoon away. The Gloria Gemma Foundation's traveling RV was also onsite, to assist with arts and crafts activities led by the Gemma Foundation's Art Therapist Nicole Lombardo.

According to EBCAP Head Start Associate Director Linda Boucher Laliberte, about 468 children attend the EBCAP program throughout the Newport County and East Bay area. The Middletown Joel Peckham site serves 54 students and two infants, she said.