Park Stories

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...

The Marina Park Sailing and Boating Center makes watersports accessible to all By Gale Nye Pinckney “We giggled like kids when we got back to the dock. We had that much fun!” That’s how a longtime instructor described a recent ocean sailing class at Marina Park in the City of Newport Beach, California. “The wind was blowing hard, and we all worked well together as a team steering the boat through...

Free fitness programming helps residents rediscover Jacksonville’s parks By Dan Biederman and Greer Gavin Riverfront Parks Conservancy (RPC), the nonprofit responsible for the activation of riverfront parks in downtown Jacksonville, Florida, retained the placemaking firm Biederman Redevelopment Ventures (BRV) in June 2023 to plan and implement free public-programming. 

Is your community ready for a parkour park? By Heidi Lemmon Parkour has been around for centuries and provides a full-body workout, which has led to the development of current fitness trails and military obstacle courses. Modern parkour consists of daredevils leaping between buildings, somersaulting off walls, and scaling tall buildings. This doesn’t really sound like an activity a recreation and...

Energized staff, maintenance, and planning are essential for strong operations By Brian Hill and Sophia Young  With proper preparation, the outdoor pool season will start out strong, but keeping up the momentum month after month can become a challenge. Lifeguard staff may begin to experience burnout, the water chemical balance can change, reducing its effectiveness, and unplanned maintenance issue...

Equity, accessibility, and variety attract teens to aquatic pipeline By Jefferey Spivey Though no two parks and recreation departments are the same, many seem to be stumped by the same problem – creating aquatic programming for teens. This demographic is especially vulnerable to peer pressure, with friends and trends dictating how they spend their time. Today’s teens are also digital natives, with...

How aquatic group-exercise classes enhance lifelong health By Haley Ragan Health is the most important aspect in life. An individual’s health allows one to experience life freely and make the most of it. Holistic wellness considers multidimensional aspects of wellness. It encourages people to think about physical, mental, emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual aspects. Some people find the...

Wayfinding signage project cleans up safety and navigation concerns By Colleen McCarty Signage in Saw Wee Kee Park once consisted of an inaccurate map on a kiosk in the parking lot, and painted stripes on trees along the 11 miles of mountain-biking trails. This not only made the trails difficult to navigate, but local authorities expressed concerns if there was an emergency in the 134-acre park.