Park Stories

How Cincinnati Parks drives some of the best social media engagement in parks & rec By Jefferey Spivey In March 2024, consulting firm Next Practice Partners announced that Cincinnati Parks (Ohio) had the third-best social media engagement in the U.S. parks and recreation sector. This may come as no surprise to @cincyparks’ followers.

In youth sports, self-improvement is the ultimate goal By John Engh One reason I love writing this column is it reminds me to step back, reminisce, and write about the youth sports experience . Sometimes, I highlight a subject that youth sports administrators deal with daily, and I explore best practices. But, other times, I show appreciation for sports participation, uncovering the true value tha...

Bold, new approaches to accessibility on the Oregon coast By Melissa Hart Oregon-based hiker and accessibility activist Jodie St. Clair headed for Ruby Beach on the Olympic Peninsula with her husband and two young sons, looking forward to a day of tide pooling. Instead, she had to stand at the edge of the beach and watch as her family headed down a trail and clambered over beached logs and giant p...

Making Fields And Facilities More Welcoming For Colorblind Athletes By Mary Helen Sprecher Sometimes, not everything is black and white. There are plenty of shades of gray between. And in sports, that can cause a problem. Colorblindness (also known as color vision deficiency and CVD) among youth athletes is not uncommon; in fact, according to UK-based organization Colour Blind Awareness (CBA), app...

How Portland’s parks are engaging the entire community By Laura Wheatman Hill Portland, Ore., and the surrounding suburbs have great natural beauty. Trails, natural areas, and water sources abound for people seeking recreation and relaxation. However, the formal playgrounds and parks have also incorporated new designs and features in recent years. New park projects and rebuilds of existing parks h...

Simple strategies to get the most from seasonal hires By Ron Ciancutti I worked in the parks and recreation field for almost 50 years before I retired, and I remember that when I told people what I did for a living, they always responded with, “Oh, that must be so nice.” 

Partners help bring Burleson’s special-needs soccer clinic to fruition By London Pulfer Texas-based Burleson Parks and Recreation’s vision is to support a vibrant and healthy community by providing everyone with opportunities to learn, grow, and play. As talks began about coordinating the department’s first special-needs soccer clinic, leaders wanted to remain true to this goal.

The fight for fair access to play By Kevin Paul J.T. Johnson sat dripping in his bathing suit, jailed on a hot June day in 1963 after the briefest of swims at the Monson Motor Lodge in balmy St. Augustine, Fla. Throughout the 1960s, ordinary people, outraged by the indignity of segregation, staged “wade-in” protests at swimming pools and beaches across America. Historian Victoria Wolcott character...

Steps to keep recreational facilities safe from carbon monoxide poisoning this summer By Eric Spacek Ah, the joys of summer camps and recreational activities—eager youngsters learning new sports, campers forming lifelong friendships…and dozens of children ending up in the emergency room because of carbon monoxide poisoning. Those hospital visits are every recreation manager’s nightmare.

How camps can practice inclusivity for all youth By Hannah Howard How should leaders ensure that everyone who comes to a camp or recreation program feels supported, safe, and seen? Likely, most program directors are already trying to ensure safe spaces for all participants. But what else can they do to intentionally create affirming spaces for gender-nonbinary and gender-expansive youth, a group t...

Food service requires healthy, nutritious menus prepped in clean, safe environments By Jason Schaitz Food service at camp can be essential or nonessential depending on the type of program. Whether the service is already offered or being considered, some factors should be kept in mind

Three Fantastic In-Service Trainings By Christopher Thurber You’ve invested time and creativity into pre-season staff training, perhaps combining some pre-arrival video training modules from ExpertOnlineTraining.com with some creative on-site workshops and scenarios. Thanks to these efforts, the summer has hummed along, but now it’s midsummer. Are staff members continuing to improve each day? The...

Leagues must prepare volunteers for worst-case scenarios By John Engh Recently, I came across a story that really hit home. The event happened on a local youth baseball field near our office. Most likely, however, it struck a chord because the story involved a 6-year-old boy playing baseball, and it brought me back to my baseball-coaching days.

Using the concept to aid in protecting natural and historic resources By Harold J. Nolan The conservation and/or preservation of both recreation- and historic-based resources begins with the unifying concept of environmental management. Two interdependent thrusts turn that concept into results. The first includes managing recreation, park, and historic resources in a way that provides both a quali...

Festivals need thorough emergency-action plans for unpredictable summer weather By Kitty Weiner Summer has arrived in full force, and so have residents’ desires to get outside. Be it lounging in parks, walking through neighborhoods, riding bikes, or going to festivals, there’s plenty to draw locals to the outdoors.

R. J. Thomas Mfg. Co. steps into the national spotlight on popular TV show By Justin Jorgensen Cherokee, Iowa-based R. J. Thomas Mfg. Co. was recently featured on "World's Greatest," a half-hour TV show that focuses on telling “the story behind the story.” The segment (in episode #361) premiered on Bloomberg TV in February 2024, but is now available online for on-demand viewing. 

Leveraging management technology to increase customer satisfaction By Brian Stapleton Parks and recreation departments are critical to the overall well-being of communities. Residents are encouraged to get physical and mental exercise through classes, activities, and equipment provided by these departments. Group events help facilitate a connection between community members, giving them opportunit...

Leaders can help employees thrive by observing how they feel about their duties By Ron Ciancutti I have two sons. One excelled in football and the other in rugby. Both received a college scholarship based on their abilities in the respective sports. Both were average students with a typical 18-year-old’s indifference to their future careers and goals.

The case for restorative waterparks By Karen Fischer One hot summer day when I was five years old, my mother broke her ankle coming down a slide in a busy waterpark. In the chaos that ensued, kids crowded around me, stretchers carried my mother off over my head, and I couldn’t find the family friends with whom we’d traveled to the park. It was a nightmare.

A hydrogeologist offers perspective on water-management solutions By Rob F. Good Jr. Golf course irrigation has become a highly engineered science of pumps, piping, sprinkler heads, controls, automation, and telemetry, configured to maximize efficiency and conservation. Advances in system design have been driven by architect and player expectations for optimum turf conditions and the endless strug...

Safe spraygrounds are necessary for young patrons By Nikki Kelly Waterparks are the rock stars of summer, with their towering slides and lazy rivers attracting thrill-seekers of all ages. But let's be real—they're not always the best fit for the smallest adventurers. With height restrictions and associated fees, waterparks can sometimes leave toddlers and younger school-aged kids high an...

Public engagement drives multimillion-dollar renovation in City Lake Park By Dave Toms The year was 2017. Like a time-worn photograph, City Lake Pool showed its age. The 1.25 million-gallon “cement pond” was quickly becoming obsolete in an era of lazy rivers, water cannons, and colorful dumping buckets. It was due for a significant renovation. However, contemplating change was no small feat, as bo...

The Land sports complex features flexible designs for a vast range of activities By Nick Henninger The Land is a premier sports, recreation, and events complex currently under construction in Saraland, Ala. The $72-million park spreads across 100 acres and will offer a wide range of indoor and outdoor amenities. The goal of the facility is to service the local community, but the space will also pr...

A horticultural oasis reimagined for music and play By Jody Ashfield Botanical gardens are often thought of as serene settings, spaces for horticulturalists and garden enthusiasts to discover and research flora and fauna. Research and education at botanical gardens around the world have been vital in protecting endangered plant species. However, a botanical garden in Florida has started to reimagi...

How the Oregon coast became accessible to everyone By Melissa Hart In 1966, having witnessed how property owners cordoned off private beaches in California and Washington, Oregon Governor Tom McCall alerted the media and jumped into a helicopter. He disembarked outside a Cannon Beach hotel and lobbied for public ownership of the coast from sea to vegetation lines on dry, sandy beaches. McCall sign...