July 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 18

Community Center

From the Director's Chair

uly marks Park and Recreation Month, a period when national visibility for
agencies - and the field of parks and recreation in general - is at its greatest
height. Summer is in full-swing and communities seem eager to take advantage of available recreational amenities. Savvy park and recreation leaders find
ways to capitalize on this momentum and leverage public awareness to its greatest effect. This Park and Recreation Month, we reached out to Rick Herold, director of the
Grand Prairie (Texas) Parks and Recreation Department; Michael S. Soderberg, executive director for community services at Thornton, Colorado, Parks and Open Space;
and Eric Call, director of the Palm Beach County, Florida, Parks and Recreation Department, to ask the following question: How has Park and Recreation Month helped
to increase awareness of park and recreation amenities in your community and how
have you capitalized on this campaign? Following are their insights:
During [the 2013 Park and Recreation
Month campaign themed] " I Love My
Parks and Recreation, " we had people do
selfies as to what they like best in parks
and recreation. We turned that into a
short film we marketed to everyone.
During a 1970s-themed celebration, we
had contests and 70s music, turned back
time to 70s pricing for a day, and broadened our fan and user base.
From having a superhero costume contest on July 1 to myriad fun and exciting
events, Park and Recreation Month has
become a tradition in Grand Prairie. It
supports our tagline that in our community, parks and recreation is a " community celebration! "
Rick Herold
Grand Prairie Parks and Recreation is
always excited to engage with Park and
Recreation Month. We have also found
over the years that it reinforces our mission and encourages more people to
jump aboard the parks and recreation
bandwagon. Our staff creates events for
every day of the month to help broaden
the effort! We engage our elected and appointed officials, citizens groups and organizations, and even our staff. Programming for the month supports the Three
Pillars set-forth by NRPA: Conservation,
Health and Wellness and Social Equity.

16 Parks & Recreation

We have also found over
the years that [Park
and Recreation Month]
reinforces our mission and
encourages more people to
jump aboard the parks and
recreation bandwagon.
- Rick Herold

| J U LY 2 0 1 6 | W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G

Michael S. Soderberg
During the past six to seven years, the
city of Thornton's Parks and Recreation
team has really tried to embrace National Park and Recreation Month to spread
enthusiasm for all of the wonderful amenities in our community.
One of the most immediate ways we
capitalize on increasing visibility is to
regularly utilize social media to send messages about a particular park, facility or
program that might be featured on any
given day. And, the most successful posts
tend to include photos that show kids or
families using the various amenities. We
also utilize our Fourth of July Celebration
every year to make Park and Recreation
Month announcements or introductions
(e.g., Captain Community this year!).
With more than 50,000 people in the
park that day, we have a captive audience
whose curiosity we hope to pique with
information on the various activities happening in July. July is our busiest month
of the year, and we take full advantage of
the many programs and facilities to promote all of the park and recreation amenities available to our residents.

July 2016 - Parks & Recreation

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