SAUGUS — Young students swarmed Belmonte STEAM Academy on Friday evening for free ice cream, face painting, pick-up basketball and lawn games.
The Party in the Park event celebrated the start of the school year.
The Saugus Police Department partnered with the town’s Youth and Recreation Department to host the event. The departments previously collaborated to host a bike rodeo on Aug. 3 and a kickball game on Aug. 12.
“We’ve been working and teaming up with the police department for some good events,” said Youth and Recreation Department Director Crystal Cakounes. “We wanted to do something that was a quick, fun back-to-school thing for the kids and we wanted to make sure it was free.”
The Chelsea Police Department donated an ice cream truck it regularly uses for events, and the Saugus Police Department donated the ice cream. Other event activities included family lawn games and face painting.
Saugus Police Chief Michael Ricciardelli said the department has enjoyed its increased involvement in the community and, given the success of past events, hopes to hold more in the future.
“Over the course of the last couple of years with COVID, we’ve really had to slow things down. Like any community, I think it’s important for our police department to engage in things like this,” Ricciardelli said. “We want to do more and more each year.”
Rachel Barber can be reached at [email protected].
