Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer has officially proclaimed July as Asheville Parks & Recreation (APR) Month, highlighting the importance of parks and recreation programs to our community. Following the announcement, APR Director D. Tyrell McGirt recognized the department’s dedicated parks and recreation professionals, including the crucial Asset Management team that keeps our parks beautiful and functional.
Ashevillians are finalizing Recreate Asheville: Shaping Our City’s Parks, a 10-year strategic vision plan for the city’s parks and recreation opportunities. Review the draft plan and submit comments and feedback by July 7.
Where You Belong
Since 1985, people in the United States have celebrated Park and Recreation Month in July to promote building strong, vibrant, and resilient communities through the power of parks and recreation and to recognize the professionals that maintain our country’s local, state, and community parks. In 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives officially mandated July as Park and Recreation Month.
This year’s theme, Where You Belong, celebrates the vital role park and recreation professionals play in bringing people together, providing essential services and fostering the growth of our communities. The services that park and recreation professionals provide are essential, from protecting open spaces and natural resources to helping fight obesity and providing activities and resources for all people.
Explore, Connect, Discover with APR
Access to Asheville’s parks, greenways, community centers, and other public recreation areas – and the active living experiences and authentic connections that take place within them – are essential and fundamental rights, integral to the health, identity, and economic and environmental well-being of Asheville.
To discover hundreds of special events and recreation programs:
- Search opportunities in the current program guide
- Explore summer boredom busters for kids and teens
- Sign up for Asheville Parks & Recreation’s monthly newsletter
Follow APR on Facebook and Instagram
Proclamation
WHEREAS access to parks, recreation, and active living experiences are essential and fundamental rights, integral to the health, identity, and economic and environmental well-being of Asheville; and
WHEREAS Ashevillians of all ages and backgrounds use parks, swimming pools, greenways, athletic spaces, and natural areas regularly and enjoy sharing recreation experiences with friends, family, and neighbors; and
WHEREAS guided by core values of trust, inclusion, accountability, and collaboration, Asheville Parks & Recreation stewards a well-loved system comprised of hundreds of acres of parkland and thousands of hours of free and affordable wellness, educational, and cultural programs at community centers, sports fields and courts, and specialty facilities that are welcoming, safe, and free of barriers; and
WHEREAS access to recreation programs and parks positively impacts mental and physical health by connecting people with nature, new experiences, and each other, harnessing a unique superpower that breaks down barriers and creates authentic relationships; and
WHEREAS parks and recreation increases Asheville’s economic prosperity through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, attraction and retention of businesses, and crime reduction; and
WHEREAS Asheville’s parks support an urban environment that integrates natural and built landscapes, maximizes ecosystem benefits, and embraces the native beauty of its surroundings; and
WHEREAS the forthcoming Recreate Asheville plan affords an opportunity for our city to prioritize strategic community investments and long-range planning across the entire city based on community input and highly reliable research to strengthen neighborhoods using the power of public recreation programs and parks, transforming Asheville into a hub of innovation that may serve as a blueprint for other communities dedicated to equitable outcomes, creative solutions that meet today’s community challenges and plan for decades of future needs, and new ways to explore, connect, and discover; and
WHEREAS the City of Asheville is driven by the promise our community is a better and safer place when everyone from infants to retirees has the opportunity to be supported, healthy, and successful; and
WHEREAS Asheville Parks & Recreation is a core pillar addressing Asheville City Council’s priorities of improving and expanding core services, neighborhood resilience, and reimagining public safety.
THEREFORE, I, Esther Manheimer, Mayor of the City of Asheville, do hereby proclaim July 2024 as Asheville Parks & Recreation Month and encourage all of Asheville’s residents to partake and enjoy all the parks the City has to offer.