October Pump Up! -- Publisher's Note

This is the time of year we start to hear about all the innovations parks and recreation vendors have been working on. New ads for these products and services hit the pages of our magazine. New exhibit booths are designed. New special events are planned and announced.

It seems the whole industry is on fire with possibility.

One of those possibilities is the ongoing rise of pump tracks and bike parks—an evolution of the skate park concept that hit the parks and recreation market like a tsunami in the 1990s. You can’t help but notice the impact this sport is having on our communities—and if you don’t have one already, you’ll probably have one in the years to come.

Of course, the action-sports crowd has not cornered the market on innovation. Playground manufacturers continue to experiment with new material, new designs, new understanding of how kids play—and the value of that play. Mowing companies continue to create safer, more efficient machines to help you stay on top of your mowing plan. The whole aquatics arena continues to explode with better features for everything from splash pads to pools. And the list goes on.

Pick a product category and you’ll see a dizzying array of new products, new services, and disruptive ideas.

To help you make sense of it all, we’ve created our annual directory of parks and recreation specific vendors (the one you’re holding) and paired it with an online directory that attempts to make it easier for you to compare and analyze competitors. The online version features reviews, ratings, videos, photo galleries, current brochures, and more.

Of course, you can easily link to the website of the vendor you’re interested in and/or figure out where the local dealer sets up shop for a more personal, local experience.

We’ve narrowed the list to include only those companies who truly operate in the parks and recreation market based on the assumption that they’re most likely to truly understand the challenges you’re trying to solve.

We think it’s a winner. Let us know if you agree.

Till next month…

Rodney J. Auth

Publisher