AROUND TOWN: Ruth Washburn Cooperative Nursery School

It’s not unusual when a dressed-up, sold-out crowd gathers to celebrate the 50th anniversary of a school. However, the Nov. 12 celebration at the Fine Arts Center was an anomaly.  It was for a nursery school.

The Ruth Washburn Cooperative Nursery School, tucked into a hillside on the west side of the city, inspires such togetherness, belonging and “remember when”  that it has been singled out by voters as the “Best School” in The Gazette’s Best of the Springs.

As one parent said in a video, what sets this nonprofit cooperative apart is that it’s “like going to a carnival every day.” Little ones “learn as they play,” he said. Parents are active participants in the school’s programs.

Faculty, parents, parent alums, student alums and other supporters were on hand to visit, bid on auction items, toast the school’s success and talk about frogs, all the while wearing froggy nametags.

For 20 of its earlier years the school had an annual May Fair where children played a Wheel of Fortune to win beanbag frogs handmade by parents. They were so popular that parents, who remember it well, had to turn out 200-300 frogs each year.

A poem on the frog table saluted that tradition:
“20 froggies grew up fast
Big frogs them became at last
Now they sit on other logs
Teaching other little frogs.”

Photos: http://gazettephoto.mycapture.com