Florida Parks' Program Combats Childhood Obesity
from the Miami Herald
To counter the growing problem, Miami-Dade County, Fla., Parks & Recreation offers programs for campers out of school for the summer. One of them, the Fit to Play program, is now in its fourth year. It aims to reduce those obesity statistics by giving kids places to engage in physical activity. The program also teaches children about the ills of smoking, how to reduce stress and protect against skin cancer. And the campers help make the nutritional My Pyramid more than just a pretty graphic on a chart. More

Families, Children Sell Old Toys at 'Kid 2 Kid' Sale in Michigan City
from The Grand Rapids Press
Vernon Buxton enjoys buying new video games, but the 12-year-old has a tough time paying for his purchases. "He's too young to work and he loves income," mother Ruth Buxton said. So for Vernon, the City of Wyoming, Mich., Parks and Recreation Department's "Kid 2 Kid" sale Saturday morning was a chance to save money for a new action video game while unloading his outdated Nintendo Gamecube and Xbox titles. More

Pitching Pickleball
from Eccentric
There is a group of senior athletes in Royal Oak who will tell you there's nothing sweeter than a good game of pickleball. "It's fast-paced, and you're laughing. It's not like tennis where you're serious. You don't even know you're exercising, which is even better," says 67-year-old Pat Sullivan, a retired Royal Oak resident who is given credit for introducing the fast-growing sport into the Royal Oak Parks and Recreation program. "It's a good addiction because you can find enjoyment so fast, and it's fun, so why not go out and have some fun." More

Rain Garden Lets Nature Do the Work
from The Greenville News
Any gardener worth his or her salt can give you a handful of reasons for gardening. Home beautification, a love of plants, creative and artistic opportunities, wildlife enhancement, tasty and nutritious food, stress relief and personal satisfaction top most lists. Now, there's something new to add: a rain garden to reduce water pollution and storm water damage. And now some Ohio parks are implementing these gardens to manage storm water and reduce pollution. More

Employees’ Health Gets a Boost in Connecticut City
from the Norwich Bulletin
The town of Killingly, Ct., has joined forces with a local business in an effort to promote employee health and increase interest in local recreational activities. The “Frito-Lay, Come and Play” program is a collaborative effort between the Parks and Recreation Department and Frito-Lay, a company whose 700-person private workforce -- the largest in town -- is an attractive demographic when the town is trying to raise interest in local activities. More

Play It Forward: Community Rebuilds Massachusetts Playground
from the Salem Gazette
"If you build it, they will come" was never more true than last weekend, when volunteers gathered at the site of the new Forest River Park playground in Salem, Mass., to construct a field of dreams of their own. Pushing wheelbarrows heavily laden with concrete, volunteers deftly negotiated around string lines that lay in wait to snag their ankles, sharp spikes which threatened to impale their feet and deep holes hungry to gobble their legs. Despite high heat and humidity, Salem citizens and others from as far as Boston pitched in to shovel dirt, set heavy equipment or simply lend moral support to the workers. More

FunWagon Brings Free Games to Washington Parks
from the Columbian
Gassed up using cash from a local parks philanthropist, a van full of sports equipment, arts, crafts and toys is making the rounds all summer to 10 of the Clark County, Wash., parks. The "FunWagon" offers free, supervised weekday outdoor play for anyone who shows up. More

Nature and Nurture
from Recreation Management
Playground manufacturers have long been committed to safety, and there's recently been a big push toward more sustainable manufacturing, but if you take the second part of that statement, you have a handle on some trends that have converged in playground development recently: a trend toward playgrounds that get kids active, a trend toward ensuring more kids have access to play, and a trend toward incorporating natural elements into play spaces. More

Community Centers Offer an Alternative to High-priced Youth Activities
from the Examiner
Leading experts agree that kids who participate in organized sports and extra curricular activities are far less likely to become involved with gangs or experiment with drugs. While the benefits are inarguable, they can also come with a hefty price tag. But Community Centers are providing a solution to the problem, allowing organized athletic programs and culturally based art and dance classes at a fraction of the cost. More

Florida’s State Park Attendance Reaches New Heights
from WMBB-TV
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Florida Park Service today announced a new record for state park attendance during the 2008-09 fiscal year. More than 21.4 million people visited a state park last fiscal year, an increase of approximately 700,000 people, or 3.5 percent, from the previous fiscal year. More

A Sustainable Park Grows in Massachusetts City
from The Boston Globe
From dusty concrete plant to empty grass lot, the view from the back window of Rita DiGesse’s house on the corner of North Harvard and Hopedale streets has changed over the nearly eight decades since she was born in the front bedroom. Now, another transformation is about to take place. Harvard University planners, Boston redevelopment officials, and a Cambridge landscape design firm are working together to reincarnate the 1.74-acre space into a “sustainable’’ park that will recycle rainwater runoff for irrigation, help clean the air and soil, and provide residents and library patrons with a green oasis in the library’s backyard. More

Kansas City Parks Enjoy Impressive Rebound
from Midwest Voices
Six years after Kansas City adopted a program to improve its parks, significant progress is evident throughout the city’s treasured system. More