ADA picnic tables with wheelchair access in the center

How accessible are your parks or facilities for providing ADA picnic tables, grills or even bleachers?

Because here is an important statistic. The National Park Service estimates that 1 in 5 Americans has a disability. (One reason why the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law in 1990.)

For that reason, back in 2012, the National Park Service created a group, the Accessibility Task Force, to study and find ways to ensure that parks are accessible to people with disabilities.

That task force created a strategic plan called "All In! Accessibility in the National Park Service - 2015-2020."

The group came up with three main goals:

Create a welcome environment for visitors with disabilities Make sure that new facilities and programs were created with accessibility in mind Upgrade existing facilities to provide better access

When you think about the implications, visiting a park can be a rewarding experience for someone who

How parks receive the IDA's Dark-Sky Certification

Most people don't realize that when they look up into the sky at night, they only see part of the picture.

What picture? The Universe.

As civilization has advanced, so has our tendency to attempt to light up every corner of the world.

There are a number of reasons why this is important.

However, there is one very negative side effect - light pollution.

When most people peer up into the night sky, they are not able to view the true sky as earlier inhabitants of the planet were able to do.

If you can find a place far away from the light, the view of a dark sky is spectacular.

You not only see prominent planets and stars in the foreground, you soon realize there is a mosaic of a gazillion points of light behind them that make up our incredible and infinite universe.

The stars and the expanse never ends.

Constellations pop out everywhere.

The big shocker comes when you realize you are able to view that wide strip of stars mashed together

Doctors beginning to write prescriptions for their patients to spend more time in parks

Parks and doctors are starting a movement to get us to think differently about visiting a park where people usually relax on a park bench or enjoy a cookout at a picnic table.

These different groups want to persuade their patients that going to a park can be more like taking medicine.

Specifically, physicians are urging their patients to visit a park as a way to get moving. Exercise. Get more exposure to fresh air and sunshine. That's the remedy many doctors are now recommending for their patients.

Their prescriptions include a list of parks near their home, specific activities they can do, duration of those activities and how often they should do it.

The program is also partnered with the National Park Service and their Healthy Parks Healthy People US program.

Take the example of one doctor, Dr. Robert Zarr who founded Park Rx America. As a pediatrician at Unity Health Care in Washington, DC, he

Memorial bench at a beach. Memorial benches are becoming a more preferred way to honor someone in a community because they are highly visible and add seating amenities to parks or favorite locations

A memorial bench is a perfect way to commemorate someone in your community for a number of reasons.

But let's first talk about two memorial benches that were recently installed at a beach in San Diego.

These benches held special meaning for surfers in the area.

The concrete memorial benches were installed to honor Larry Gordon and Skeeter Malcolm, two surfing legends who literally pioneered the sport in San Diego, probably most of California and were sure to have an influence around the rest of the country.

Gordon, who passed away in 2016 a the age of 76, partnered with friend Floyd Smith to make surfboards back in the 1960s, when surfing was just a fledgling pastime.

They were one of the first surfers to manufacture boards with polyurethane foam, making them easier to ride than clunky wooden

Be sure the outdoor bleachers you add to your facility have a high slip-resistance rating

Outdoor bleachers can sometimes be subjected to rough and tough wear very similar to what's taking place on the field. Then of course, since these structures are outside, you have to battle the environment as well.

That's why you must install aluminum bleachers with slip-resistance qualities.

Let's face it. When you have a three to four-hour event such as a football game taking place, you will have quite a bit of activity on those outdoor bleachers as well.

Children will run.

Teens will spill their sodas and stomp around the stands.

Grandparents will want to attend and will have to be gingerly helped up and down the steps and ramps.

Fans will jump up and down to cheer on their favorite teams.

It's going to rain during some games. Maybe it will snow.

The temperatures could drop into the freezing range.

To look at the even bigger picture, the National Floor Safety Institute estimates there are more than

Now that more than 80 million Americans say they like to barbecue, it's smart to add larger grills to parks and campgrounds so pitmasters can cook more food faster and free up the grills

Permanent grills are now a necessity more than ever at parks, campsites and private outdoor facilities.

But do you have enough grills to handle the demand?

Because here's a staggering statistic - nearly 80 million Americans have used an outdoor grill in the past year, according to the US Census.

That's a whole bunch of folks.

Sure, many of them have their own gas or charcoal grills at home.

But there is a big segment of the population who like to cook outdoors on park charcoal grills with a large gathering of friends and family members.

And of course, when camping, you have no choice but to grill, unless you can subsist on granola bars. Heck, cooking on a grill or over a fire ring is one of the best parts of camping!

The demand for grills at some city parks has gotten so intense, that people have to reserve

July is Park and Recreation Month and a time to celebrate and appreciate all the programs offered and maintained by the employees at your local parks

July is Park and Recreation Month and a great time to salute the people who work hard at your local, state and national parks all year long to create appealing spaces and programs for the public.

According to a recent study by the National Recreation and Parks Association, park workers cover a lot of ground. Literally.

The number of programs offered by local parks and their responsibilities might surprise the average citizen. It should certainly impress them.

The study reports on data obtained from 1,069 park and recreation agencies across the US from 2015 to 2017.

Survey reveals typical workload of parks and rec departments

Here is an overview of what parks and recreation department activities:

84% of parks and recreation departments offer summer camps 79% offer programs for seniors 63% offer programs for teens 62% offer programs for people

A student on the "Buddy Bench" he was able to get installed at his elementary school to foster making friends

Sometimes just one child can make a big difference in the lives of their classmates.

Take a young man named Alex for example, of Stafford, VA.

According to his mother, Dottie, during recess Alex would often see children on the playground with no one to play with and this really bothered him. During the end of year party at church camp, Alex noticed a bunch of children were playing. But a young man in a wheelchair, was sitting all by himself. This was very upsetting to Alex.

He went over and befriended the youngster and together the two of them had a great time together.

The idea struck Alex that many other children also experience the same kind of loneliness.

To change this, during his summer break Alex got the idea of adding a "buddy bench" to his school. Alex was a rising student at the time and wanted the bench in place so when children came to school on the first day, they would

Aluminum benches installed at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island in South Carolina

A recent installation of aluminum benches by The Park and Facilities Catalog will hold a special place in our gallery of completed projects.

We recently supplied and installed 60 aluminum benches, 15 feet in length, to the United State Marine Corps.

The benches were installed in a classroom at the legendary Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island where Marine Corps recruits are instructed on a number of different tasks and assignments. About 20,000 troops come to the training center annually.

One task for the recruits is getting ready to take those famous Marine portraits that they proudly send home to their parents, relatives, and friends.

That's where Julie McElwain comes in. She's the civilian Marine manager in charge of recruit photography.

"This has been the easiest project I have ever done," she said. "Not only was your company quick to give a quote, they were efficient in supplying

Picnic tables today are made with different materials that can be effective in reducing vandalism

Picnic tables are a popular destination for family gatherings, children's parties and sometimes bored delinquents who have nothing better to do but to tear them apart and wreck the experience for everybody.

Warm weather is now here, and people are heading outdoors, including these hooligans.

Scan the national headlines, and you will see incidents here and there where a bunch of misguided miscreants met at a park and then at some point in the evening, thought it was a good idea to destroy the picnic tables on the premises. By the way, probably the same picnic tables their families or friends use during daylight hours.

These scoundrels either bust the tables up. Carve their names into the wood or even worse, add offensive words. Or they may decide to just spray paint graffiti all over the surface and seats.

Might be enjoyable to them for about five minutes. But it could leave families and the

 

The Park and Facilities Catalog now offers drinking fountains with convenient bottle fillers

Drinking fountains at parks, playgrounds, and outdoor facilities are often overlooked as a key site amenity.

But they play a super-important function. And that function can mean the difference between a good park experience or a frustrating one.

This is especially important today, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the Earth's global temperature in 2017 was the third warmest year on record. The year before, 2016, was actually the warmest in history and 2015 was the second warmest.

This summer just started and news reports already say the US is experiencing intense heat.

That means people need to hydrate more than ever.

How many times has someone enjoyed a day outside in a park and learned there were no drinking fountains to be found?

How frustrating is it for visitors to finally find a drinking fountain and then discover it does not work?

Or, how many times have people

A steel bench is becoming a popular alternative to classic wooden benches across the US for a number of reasons.

Why? What special advantages does a steel bench provide?

There are many. Let's start with the design.

The beauty of a steel bench is that it can be manufactured to resemble the pleasing aesthetics of traditional wood benches that have filled parks for centuries.

The metal can be forged to create any look:

The curved back of a Savannah bench.

The round arms of a Durham bench.

A straight back steel bench or a steel bench without a backrest.

Basically, any traditional design can be recreated to offer that nostalgic look that people prefer.

Steel bench features and benefits

But there are several other advantages why a steel bench is a smart choice:

Wear and tear: park benches are popular benches. If you have a busy park, those park benches will have to deal with the challenge of constant usage, for many hours every day of the year. A steel bench built with heavy-duty, tough steel

Commercial site furnishings in our quick ship ParkExpress program can be shipped in just 1-3 days from our park and facility warehouses in strategic locations. A unique service for the outdoor furnishings industry

When it comes to quick shipping commercial site furnishings, we have facility and park warehouses all over the country that make The Park and Facilities Catalog the place to go when you need it fast.

Let's face it. Things happen. Schedules change. Weather causes problems. Crowds are expected to be bigger than originally forecast.

We get it. Consumers and business people today expect items to be shipped quickly. Amazon got the ball rolling for fast shipping and many other businesses such as The Park and Facilities Catalog followed suit.

According to the Wall Street Journal, in a 2015 report, about 63% of online shippers believed that three to four-day delivery was fast. The following year, that number dropped to 42%. (Ironically, if they have an option to pay for faster delivery

Metal bench with a resilient thermoplastic coating

A metal bench is becoming a preferred choice for many maintenance supervisors, architects, and landscapers for one BIG reason - the coating.

In recent years, there have been tremendous technological advances made in the coatings that are now applied to a metal bench, compared to years before.

Previously, a metal bench might look great at first. But then after a few years subjected to the harsh elements - rain, freezing temperatures, UV rays - corrosion and rust might appear.

Given enough time, while steel might appear strong at first, eventually the combination of oxygen and water can cause a metal surface to become flaky and friable. It basically turns a smooth surface into a rusty mess.

But that was long ago.

Today, the coatings available for a metal bench are in a word, amazing.

Take thermoplastic for example.

With the thermoplastic process, the pre-heated metal bench and back is dipped into a fluidized bed of thermoplastic particles.

A list of the Top Theme Parks in the world from No. 1 to No. 25

When Walt Disney first conceived opening a theme park, he acquired a tiny 8-acre plot of land near his studios in Burbank, CA.

His idea was to provide an outdoor amusement area near his studios for fans who wanted to visit, because frankly, there really wasn't much to do and see at the studios. The original name of the place was to be called "Mickey Mouse Park."

However, as people starting working on the project, some of Disney's cohorts suggested the site was too small for his vision and he should look to acquire a larger space. So he bought a 160-acre orange grove and walnut farm in Anaheim, CA.

Disneyland officially opened on July 17, 1955. Temperatures soared above 100 degrees. The pavement was hot and sticky. Local plumbers went on strike. And the park's drinking fountains ran out of water. But going forward, talk about a mouse that roared.

Today, the Walt Disney Company owns the top five theme parks in North America and