June 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 24

Who, What, Where & how Around the Parks

HOW WE DID IT

Milwaukee Recreation Celebrates 100 Years
Success hinged on thorough planning, research, and execution.
By Brian M. Hoffer

ow should a recreation
department celebrate
an important milestone
such as its 100th anniversary? In Milwaukee,
we've given much consideration to that
question. The Milwaukee Public Schools
Division of Recreation and Community
Services (also known as Milwaukee Recreation) was established in 1911, and we
were excited to be able to celebrate our
" Rec. Centennial " in 2011. We began by
searching for an article on the subject
of recreation anniversaries-perhaps a
" how to " checklist that we could follow.
Unable to find such a resource, we moved
forward undeterred, vowing to document
our work for the benefit of other departments. We soon found that the celebration of an anniversary is possibly the most
perfect way to highlight the powerful impact and long-lasting ties that every recreation department has with its residents.
We are sharing this article with the hope
that you can apply some of our ideas to
the advancement of parks and recreation
in your own community.

Outreach Materials

Preparation & Research
We began our celebration efforts two
years before our anniversary year by

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forming a planning committee in 2009.
Together, our 10-member group agreed
on the following mission statement to
keep our work on track: " To increase
awareness of, and appreciation for Milwaukee Recreation's current programs
and services by highlighting the extraordinary, positive impact we have made
during the past 100 years. "
Next, each member of our committee
selected one decade in our department's
history to research. We consulted old
newspaper clippings, handwritten notes,
staff journals, procedural manuals, brochures, and memos that we discovered
in local libraries and our own archives.
Using these materials, each committee
member wrote a three-page history of
our department as it related to his/her
chosen decade. While exploring our archives, we discovered more than 3,000
historic photos and 10 hours of 8mm and
16mm film footage, some of which dates
back to the 1920s. During the following year, we scanned all the photos and
transferred the films to a digital format.

With our research complete, the anniversary committee had compiled an impressive collection of interesting materials to

www . N R P A . O R G

share with our internal and external customers. We used these materials to develop a 12-page booklet called 100 Years
of Recreation. This booklet features a department timeline, historic photos, fun
facts and stories, rules for old playground
games, and a contest inviting the public
to submit captions for a few of the most
intriguing photos that we discovered in
our archives. You can download a copy
of this booklet from www.MilwaukeeRecreation.net. We then proceeded to create
the following outreach materials:
■■ Banners to hang inside our community
centers and outside on fences in hightraffic areas throughout Milwaukee. The
banners feature an assortment of new
and old photos to showcase our history
while conveying the message that Milwaukee Recreation remains a vital part
of our community.
■■ Historic film clips that we are posting on
Milwaukee Recreation's YouTube channel throughout 2011. We also set up a
TV screen behind our main registration
counter to play historic film footage for
our customers while they wait.
■■ A 30-second Public Service Announcement (also available on YouTube) that is
now airing on local TV and before movies at local theaters.

June 2011 - Parks & Recreation

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