To the Editor:

The Claris Construction Inc Summer Jam Concert Series recently concluded its fourth season and I

would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of Newtown Parks & Recreation, to express our gratitude

for another wonderful summer of children's concerts at the Dickinson Park bandshell. This seven-week,

family-oriented concert series began in the summer of 2013 as a means to bring joy to our community

and to foster healing through music.

Thanks to the incredible generosity and support of Summer Jam's sponsors, a few hundred singing and

dancing attendees (children, parents, and grandparents alike) continue to enjoy the music of the

amazingly talented performers who travel to Newtown each week to sing and dance their hearts out for

our community. And what a series it has been this summer. Summer Jam welcomed a group of artists

this summer that included several Grammy nominees, the 2015 Latin Grammy recipient for Best

Children's Album, the 2016 Grammy recipient for Best Children's Album and multiple Parent's Choice

Award winning performers. Summer Jam attendees enjoyed many genres of music (jazz, roots, blues,

indie, to name a few) and a plethora of musical instruments, including the washboard.

It is the continued generosity and support of our sponsors that makes this series possible for our

community and for our children year after year, so a truly heartfelt thank you to each and every one of

them. Thank you to Phil Clark and Claris Construction for being the title sponsor of this series for the

past four years. Thank you to our gold sponsors: Caraluzzi's Markets, Andy Sachs and the Around

Town Team at Coldwell Banker, Honda of Danbury, People's United Bank, Popowich Chiropractic &

Acupuncture Care, and Union Savings Bank. A big thank you to Associated Refuse Haulers for

continuing as our silver sponsor and to CrossFit Hook'd and Mexicali Rose Newtown for their support

as community contributors.

We would also like to say a big thank you to our fabulous audience. This summer, concert attendees

participated in a Kids-Helping-Kids Campaign to collectively help pay-it-forward to other area

children. We collected school supplies for a K-5 elementary school in Danbury with Title I status that

needs to provide school supplies for 290 of its 377 students. We successfully delivered two bins of

supplies and some monetary donations to help the Jericho Partnership Merchants Group and South

Street School's CityServe initiative. We look forward to paying-it-forward again next summer.

Please be sure to visit the Summer Jam page on Facebook at newtownsummerjam for series updates.

We hope to see you at the bandshell next summer.

With much appreciation,

Erin Masotta

10 Grand Place, Newtown            August 17, 2016