Articles
Catering To Curling
While the sport of curling rewards great skill and precision, Chaska, Minn., wanted to reward the community with a great place to play, practice, compete, and celebrate. With a design led by 292 Design Group, now JLG Architects, the Chaska Curling & Event Center opened its doors in the winter of 2015, alongside a vibrant redevelopment of Firemen’s Park in downtown Chaska.
Beyond Bricks and Mortar
Envisioning the possibilities of a new community center or sports facility is exciting, but when the costs of a project add up, the last thing anyone wants to see is a surprise. To bypass aggressive finger-pointing, the best advice is to avoid any comparison with similar facilities and to invest in information-gathering that will help determine the true cost of a project.
Cultivating A Dedicated Group-Fitness Team
The heart and soul of any fitness center is its group-exercise program. Nearly 40 percent of members will participate in these classes at some point, and the American College of Sports Medicine designated group fitness within the top-three trends of 2020 (Thompson, 2019).
Cultivating A Community Gathering Space
What began as a homestead fueled by the Gold Rush and then turned into an agricultural hub, the town of Berthoud, Colo., has not-so-slowly morphed into a growing destination for young families and modern-day Coloradans looking for a slower pace of life and lower living costs than in its neighboring cities.
Remaining Relevant
To remain relevant and attract visitors, municipal aquatic centers must make upgrades and add interest despite the challenges presented by budget constraints and the fluctuations brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of forced closures of facilities, many aquatic leaders lost revenue, and funding for programs was cut, although some cities have managed to pass referenda during that time to start projects.
Renovation Vs. New Construction
Continued facility maintenance and upkeep are an essential part of an effective operations strategy, but inevitably, a department will need to choose between renovating existing facilities or building new ones; which option is better depends on a variety of factors.
A Lesson In History
St. Louis County Parks is in the process of moving and reconstructing a significant building to the Historic Village at Faust Park. This year marks the 129th anniversary of Missouri’s oldest-surviving, one-room schoolhouse.
Where The Metals Meet
The 24-acre Michelle and Barack Obama Sports Complex at Rancho Cienega Park fills an important need in South Los Angeles, providing quality public-recreation and fitness amenities for a population of approximately 100,000 people. The complex, which opened in June 2022, is a tribute to the former First Lady and President, who held his first Los Angeles-area campaign rally in the park.
Make 2023 Your Best Registration Year Yet With Technology
Registrations have a huge impact on the success of your parks and rec agency. But the same challenges always seem to come up! Discover five ways technology can solve the most common challenges and make sure 2023 is your best registration year yet.
Restroom Renovation
When it comes to facility renovations in many park and recreation facilities, the one area that nearly all administrators want to upgrade is the restrooms.
Inspect More, Reduce Risk
Inspection requirements for recreation facilities can be fairly extensive. Whether it’s inspecting playgrounds, fire extinguishers, filter changes, fire alarms, trash cans, etc., there is a lot to consider.
A Home For Health And Heritage
Frogtown Community Center in St. Paul, Minn., located on the site of the former Scheffer Recreation Center, is a vibrant hub of cultural inclusivity and wellness-driven activity. While the 1970s center may have brought community together in the past, in the present it needed a ground-up overhaul to connect with the diversity of the current community.
Not Just Upgrading, But Placemaking
With a prime location in Golden Gate Park, there is no tennis center quite like the Lisa & Douglas Goldman Tennis Center (GTC) in the city and county of San Francisco. Designed by EHDD, with early design input from HGA, the GTC continues the city’s long legacy and tradition of tennis in the park that started in the late-19th century.
Green Cleaning With Gusto
The past two years have been tough for park and recreations centers around the country. Numerous facilities were closed for months due to the pandemic.
Aging Gracefully
Participation by senior citizens at recreation centers across the country has significantly increased over time, and along with it the offerings that beckon them. One example of a successful program is the Georgia-based Macon-Bibb County Department of Parks and Recreation’s Elaine H. Lucas Senior Center.
The Show Must Go On
As park and recreation professionals, we know capital construction rarely goes as planned; there are often delays and change orders that are out of our hands. The Wheaton Park District in Illinois finally met its ultimate challenge with the Memorial Park renovation project, originally set to open in June 2020.
An Invitation To Join The Conversation
No two parks are alike—and that’s a good thing. The features that become beloved in one neighborhood might sit unused in another.
Bridging What Divides Us
Memphis, Tenn., is a city starkly divided by race and income, with a high poverty rate and few public spaces to be shared by people of different backgrounds. In 2016, a group of public and nonprofit partners decided to intentionally design, manage, and operate public spaces that would welcome people of all races, incomes, and backgrounds.
Indiscriminate Disinfecting
Last year, the National Recreation and Park Association published a set of guidelines to help park and recreation professionals recover from the pandemic, safely reopen their doors, and welcome children—and their parents—back to their facilities. Their guidance, which focused on proper cleaning and disinfecting, was based on a “reopening” program created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in April 2020.
Youth Sports Administration 101: Risk Management
Risk management is never fun, but it is essential in preventing a catastrophic incident that may cause serious harm and shut a league down for good. Risk management does not only include a hazard or physical accident, but can include financial losses or the loss of important records.