California Park & Recreation Society (CPRS), GameTime, and PlayCore drove 804 miles in 5 days to celebrate the leadership of the local park departments who created new play and recreation spaces in their communities.
The Parks Make Life Better!® Tour visited six parks in five cities from San Francisco down to San Deigo. Each of the sites are recognized as National Demonstration Sites by PlayCore and reflect best practices in the areas of inclusive play, youth physical activity, adult outdoor fitness, or nature-based play and recreation. The PlayCore National Demonstration Site® (NDS) program of excellence captures a community’s commitment to advancements in play and recreation, and recognizes their efforts through a comprehensive recognition program.
Stephanie Stephens, Executive Director for CPRS said in a statement, “Feeling honored this week to see 5 of our amazing Healthy Play Initiative projects from around the state. Suisun City, Turlock, McFarland, Glendale and Calexico, thanks for hosting us as we make our way down the state!! And to our friends from PlayCore and GameTime, THANK YOU for making 30 communities better places to play through this initiative over the past 3 years!”
The tour members were greeted with a great turnout where each park was presented with a certificate to recognize the National Demonstration Site status of the park. Each location had events planned for local children and families to enjoy during the celebration, and each play or fitness area will be open for use:
Monday, July 9 - Heritage Park, Suisun City, CA
Tuesday, July 10 - Summerfaire Park, Turlock, CA
Wednesday, July 11 - McFarland Park, McFarland, CA
Thursday, July 12- Carr and Nibley Parks, Glendale, CA
Friday, July 13 - Cordova Park, Calexico, CA
To see pictures and video from the tour, visit GameTime’s social media channels: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, @gametimeplay.
Research and guidebooks in Outdoor Adult Fitness™, 7 Principles of Inclusive Playground Design®, Play On!® youth fitness, NatureGrounds®, and Pathways for Play™, create the foundation of the NDS program to inspire communities to build play and recreation spaces utilizing best practices and designs established by scholars and experts in the respective fields. PlayCore continues to support and encourage a community’s engagement through the design and implementation process and provides the tools to demonstrate their leadership to others. The sites are placed on the National Registry of Demonstration Sites and become part of our network for ongoing data collection.
