Every summer since 1985, communities nationwide have joined in recognizing Parks and Recreation Month. As an extended celebration that takes place throughout the month of July, it’s a great opportunity for agencies to highlight the essential role parks and recreation organizations and professionals play in building vibrant, healthy neighborhoods.

But with summer being one of the busiest times of year for many agencies, it can be difficult to ensure that you, your staff and your customers get the most out of this month. In this article, we cover four tips to help you maximize your celebrations and effectively engage your community—without putting too much extra work on your team.

Skip ahead to the sections that interest you most:

💭 Why Celebrate Parks and Recreation Month?

🎉 4 Tips to Help You Celebrate with Ease

🗓️  Tip 1: Start Planning as Early as You Can

Why Celebrate Parks and Recreation Month?

The most obvious reason to celebrate Parks and Rec Month is, of course, the fact that parks and recreation agencies deserve to be recognized for their incredible contributions to communities across the country! That said, there are a few other important reasons to consider participating in Parks and Recreation Month.  

This month-long celebration is a powerful platform to:

⛹️‍♂️ Bring Awareness to Your Offerings: Parks and Recreation Month gives your agency a chance to shine a spotlight on your programs and services, providing an opportunity to increase participation in your offerings.

🎉 Appreciate Your Staff: July is also when Parks and Recreation Professionals Day takes place! Agencies can use this time to recognize and celebrate the staff who work tirelessly to keep their communities thriving.

📣 Advocate for the Industry: This month also offers agencies an opportunity to bring more awareness to the need for funding and support for many programs and facilities.

4 Tips to Help You Celebrate with Ease

In addition to the increase in visitation and interest that many agencies experience during the summer months, taking the time to plan out and execute celebrations and events for Parks and Recreation Month can feel overwhelming. That’s why our team decided to put together our recent free resource: A Practical Guide to Celebrating Parks & Recreation Agencies! 

In our guide, we offer:  

📋 Step-by-step instructions on how to kick off your planning and get your team organized for July

🎉 Celebration and event ideas for Parks and Recreation Month and Parks and Rec Professionals Day 

✅ Templates and checklists you can leverage leading up to and throughout Parks and Recreation Month

📈 Ways to track participation during the month of July 

While our free guide offers more in-depth ideas, templates, and checklists, below you'll find four high-level tips to help you get the most out of Parks and Recreation Month.

🗓️ Tip 1: Start Planning as Early as You Can

Even though you should ideally begin planning your Parks and Recreation Month celebrations at least three-to-four months ahead of July, it’s not too late to start now!

In these initial months of planning, you’ll want to define what you and your agency hope to get out of celebrating Parks and Recreation Month, as well as Parks and Rec Professionals Day. This should include setting your goals and objectives and putting together a project timeline to keep your team on track.

In our guide, you’ll find checklists for before, during and after your events to help you keep an eye on your progress.

📣 Tip 2: Build Buzz by Spreading the Word

Creating excitement is key to any successful event! Make sure that you and your team share details about your celebrations well ahead of when they’re scheduled to take place.  

A few different ways that you can spread the word about your events include:

💬 Social media promotion

📧 Email communications

🏞️ In-center posters or flyers

For inspiration, check out the social media and email templates included in our free guide!

🙌 Tip 3: Make Time to Celebrate Your Team

Those who work in parks and recreation are some of the hardest working professionals out there! Whether you decide to recognize the dedication and passion of your team throughout July or specifically on Parks and Recreation Professionals Day, this month is the perfect time to show your appreciation for your staff. 

Download our guide for access to staff recognition ideas, as well as a Certificate of Recognition Template. 

📊 Tip 4: Measure Your Success

Tracking the engagement levels of your events and celebrations is one of the best ways to understand what worked, as well as areas for improvement next year.

There are multiple different ways that you can monitor participation and community satisfaction levels of your events, including:

📈 Attendance tracking

💻 Digital engagement

📋 Survey responses

For more details on the above, as well as a Post-Event Survey Template, download the guide

Supporting Your Success Year Round

Whether it’s Parks and Recreation Month or the middle of February, we see all that you do to benefit the well-being of your community. In fact, it’s your passion for what you do—despite often being stretched thin—that motivates us to provide agencies like yours with a parks and recreation management software that’s both super functional and incredibly easy to use.

Book a demo with our team today to learn more about how we can support the success of your team year round with our all-in-one recreation management solution.

Download Your Free Guide  

Read this far but haven’t downloaded your free copy of our guide yet? Now's your chance! Download it today and start planning how your agency will participate in Parks and Recreation Month this year!