Nearly every Westport parent is grateful for the beautiful Compo Beach playground. It’s one of the most special things about the town—seeing the arresting views of the Long Island Sound while pushing your child on a swing is almost surreal. But by next Thanksgiving, we’ll have even more to be grateful for, thanks to the tireless efforts of Westporters like Samantha Owades— she's part of a community-wide effort to renovate the nearly 40-year-old playground to make it better than ever. “The Rotary in Westport was coming up on their centennial, and they were looking for a project to do for the town. The town suggested the playground,” explains Samantha, a co-chair of the Compo Playground Organizing Committee. Samantha, a lifelong Westporter, was moved to join the effort— her father was a past president of Rotary, and she wanted to be part of the “next generation.”
The "why" behind the revamp of the playground was also compelling to Samantha: the main goals are to make it safer and more accessible. “You may have noticed that right now we have accessible swings on the playground, but they’re across massive amounts of sand. We’ll be moving those closer to the boardwalk and putting a surface under it so that someone in a wheelchair can actually get onto the swing,” she says, as an example of the types of changes the committee has planned.
The safety updates include incorporating more of a “hub-and-spoke” model, to improve sight lines and help caregivers keep an eye on their kids. “The second thing we wanted to do is make it harder to get to the road,” explains Samantha. They incorporated a buffer picnic area on the road-facing side of the playground, and added a second gate beyond it, to make it harder for children to access the busy parking area. “But we didn’t want to mess with the visual beauty of the playground,” says Samantha. “Keeping the roof and height lines intact, as well as the core structures, was important.”
Samantha, a mom of two, says she and her fellow committee members “are so thankful for what the generations before us have done,” she says. “They’ve created and established something that we treasure today, and we want to make sure that we put something forward that can go the next 20-plus years.”
In order to make that happen, a community volunteer build will take place April 21 through 26, 2025. Residents can donate to the committee’s goal— they’re raising $650,000 to cover materials, labor, and maintenance costs— and they’re also planning volunteer opportunities. “The act of giving back and teaching your kids to give back is so important,” explains Samantha. “Playground renovation is something where kids can get involved in a physical volunteer effort in their own town.” (The details of how to volunteer are still being worked out, and will be announced ON THEIR WEBSITE?.)
“People may not know that many of the new things in this town are built by small groups of community members getting together and creating something lasting,” says Samantha. So if you’re looking for a cause to give back to this Giving Tuesday, there’s one in our communal front yard. To learn more and donate, visit compobeachplayground.com
"We are so thankful for what the generations before us have done."