Pamlico Joe and Cleanwater Flow entertained the crowds after a sea of blue t-shirted Week of the Young Child celebrants marched down Main and Market streets in Washington April 19. A festival awaited them at Festival Park, one that celebrated all things child—and the needs that must be met in order to lay the foundation for his or her success in school and later life.

Week of the Young Child is sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the world’s largest early childhood education association, with nearly 80,000 members and a network of over 300 local, state, and regional affiliates. In Beaufort County, Beaufort/Hyde Partnership for Children takes the reins, heading up this year’s “Paint the Town Blue” campaign and inviting caretakers and those whose professions revolve around child welfare to help them celebrate.

Children from daycares, preschools, home schools and with their caregivers from Beaufort and Hyde counties were invited to take part in the event which, yearly, draws hundreds.