BuyBoard Approved Products: Simplifying Procurement for Schools, Parks, and Municipalities

At The Park Catalog, we understand how challenging it can be to find quality products that meet your organization’s purchasing requirements. That’s why we offer BuyBoard approved products — making it easier than ever for schools, parks, and municipalities to access high-quality site furnishings, equipment, and outdoor solutions.

What is BuyBoard?

BuyBoard is a cooperative purchasing program that streamlines the procurement process for public organizations. By using BuyBoard approved products, your organization can purchase with confidence, knowing the products meet rigorous quality standards and comply with cooperative purchasing rules.

The Benefits of BuyBoard Approved Products 1. Simplified Procurement

No need to navigate complex bidding processes. BuyBoard approved products have already been vetted and approved, so your team can focus on what matters most — your project.

2. Competitive Pricing

Pickleball has taken the nation by storm, and communities everywhere are racing to add courts to parks, recreation centers, and schools. With its blend of accessibility, fun, and fast-paced play, it’s no wonder pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. But as any parks planner or facilities manager knows, a great pickleball setup isn’t complete without comfortable and durable seating for players and spectators alike. At The Park Catalog, we’re proud to support this booming sport by offering high-quality outdoor seating designed to enhance every pickleball venue. Whether you're building a brand-new complex or upgrading an existing court, our premium benches and aluminum bleachers provide reliable comfort and a polished look for any facility. Featured Products for Pickleball Courts Everest Series 6-Ft. Park Bench with BackSKU: 595-6001

This Everest Series bench is a customer favorite for good reason. With its sleek design, sturdy construction, and comfortable contoured backrest,

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho. (National Park Service Photo

If you want to experience what it's like to visit another planet without getting in a spaceship, consider these five national park areas with out-of-this-world landscapes.

Let's start with one of the most obvious:

Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve

This enormous park, 400 square miles, located in Idaho definitely has a different planet-type appearance to it. Much of the landscape basically consists of undulating black mounds with really nothing else. That's because those mounds were once made with molten lava. This area has some of the best rift cracks in the world (including the deepest on earth at 800 feet), varieties of basaltic lava, ancient tree molds and lava tubes. Within this desolate landscape, you can also see fissure vents, cones, and giant rock blocks. But in some spots, there are also wildflowers, shrubs, and trees. It's truly one of the strangest places in the National

Aluminum bleachers offer versatility in seating capacity and configurations

One of the great advantages when choosing Aluminum Bleachers is the flexibility this product provides as far as spectator seating in locations with different footprints.

Have some fans for a soccer league, but not a huge amount? Consider 4-row bleachers.

Have a small space but lots of fans? Consider 10-row elevated bleachers.

Have a tight budget but multiple fields to cover? Consider 5-row Portable bleachers.

Have an unusual footprint of land to fill? Experts can design Custom Bleachers to accommodate your specific needs for different dimensions.

Another advantage is that perhaps you determined 4 row bleachers are fine for your field. But you are worried about having enough capacity. Instead of ordering 15-foot long bleachers, considering adding a few feet extra and going to 21 or 27 feet for added capacity.

Aluminum bleachers seating formula

Sample seating layout for sports bleachers

When ordering aluminum bleachers

Picnic tables with game tops can quickly become a popular place at your location for people to meet and socialize

Picnic tables can offer another benefit to the public besides a place to dine outdoors when you add this item - a game top.

When ordering a metal or concrete picnic table, consider including the game top option.

With that option, a common checkerboard (also used for chess and other games) is embedded into the steel or concrete surface.

This adds a whole new dimension to your picnic table.

For one, the game top checkerboard can be used for both chess and checkers.

In fact, there are also several other games that can be played on an 8 square by 8 square board.

They include Amazons, Chapayev, Gounki, Arimaa, Breakthrough, Crossing. Mak-yek, Makruk and of course for our celestial friends. Martian Chess.

Think of the fun a family can have after or before a meal with this checkerboard.

It gives them more of a reason to stay outdoors and in your park or at your school.

Secondly, adding

Bryce Canyon National Park. Read how you can take a "virtual hike" through this amazing landscape and four other fascinating national parks. (Source: National Park Service)

For people who are indoors but yearn to be outdoors and visit a national park, Google has teamed up with the National Park Service to give us a Virtual Guide to five fantastic, and incredibly diverse parks.

Take a hike from your computer and view stunning videos that make it appear you are actually walking on a park trail.

In these virtual tours, you walk alongside an experienced park ranger who provides a trail's eye view through five national parks along with an interesting narrative about the location.

With high-def cameras and drone footage from above, you and your mouse can climb into an ice-blue crevasse, hike through a volcanic tunnel or swim along coral reefs, all on your computer (or, if you want to be fully immersed, on your wide-screen TV).

These videos can certainly be used as a family-oriented adventure.

Bicycle lockers in downtown office building for growing number of workers who now bicycle to work

Bicycle lockers, bike rooms and indoor bicycle storage are becoming very popular features that more and more office buildings are promoting to lure tenants.

For example, Layton Construction in Tennessee recently installed four bicycle lockers from The Park and Facilities Catalog in a bike room in a large office building in downtown Nashville.

The skyscraper offers a complete bike room with bike lockers, vertical wall mounted bike racks, personal lockers and even a shower.

Bike lockers offer complete security and even come with hooks to hang clothing or gear inside the box. The bicycle lockers offered by The Park and Facilities Catalog are manufactured with a molded fiberglass reinforced plastic composite.

That makes these lockers scratch-resistant and bicycle-friendly. They come with a standard pop-out T handle lock with keys recessed into the door or a handle that can be locked with a padlock.

Wendy Graham, program coordinator, with one of the Buddy Benches donated by The Yuba-Sutter Stand for the Silent organization

One group in the Yuba CA area has made it their mission to provide Buddy Benches for schools in the area to promote inclusivity and fight bullying.

And with the support of local businesses and individuals, they are succeeding.

The group is called the Yuba-Sutter Stand for the Silent. This is a chapter of the national Stand for the Silent organization that was started by a group of high school students in Oklahoma City, OK.

The Yuba-Sutter Stand for the Silent program offers education on bullying, resources, and support.

The chapter involves all the individuals affected by bullying. Not only victims, but offenders plus family members, educators and administrators.

As part of their program, they work to provide Buddy Benches to area schools.

The idea behind Buddy Benches is a very simple, yet effective tool against bullying that also helps children interact with one

A few notes about the Top 20 National Parks compiled by The Park and Facilities Catalog.

There is a new park on the Top 20 list - Indiana Dunes National Park, which also happens to be a newly designated national park. As far as the Top 5 National Parks, Yellowstone bumped Yosemite back one spot for the fifth position. This year for the first time we added the total visitor numbers from the prior year so you can see the change from one year to the next. Unfortunately for Sequoia National Park, it was knocked off the list with the addition of Indian Dunes National Park. If you are interested in reviewing more park visitor data, check out this National Park Service page.

We hope you enjoy our list and photos for each park. Pass it on to family and friends!

A park bench at a pocket park located at The Episcopal School in Dallas. (Photo by staff photographer)

There's a movement going on in urban and suburban areas to bring parks closer to residents, improve unsightly abandoned lots and help people socialize.

They are called "Pocket Parks."

The concept is a simple one and so is the process to build one.

All it takes is some dedicated citizens, assistance from the local parks and recreation department, donors and some elbow grease.

But the rewards can be plentiful.

Pocket parks are small, but benefits are huge

To get people fired up about the idea, let's start with the benefits of pocket parks:

Transforms a vacant lot, perhaps an eyesore, into a beautiful, relaxing place to gather. Improves surrounding property values. (The High Line in New York has generated billions in higher property values and new development. And that park is very narrow in places and built on abandoned elevated train tracks). Adds a visible amenity to the neighborhood,

Bike lockers for lease at the RTD station in Denver

Bike Lockers are becoming more prevalent as a form of secure bicycle storage.

After all, locking a bicycle in a strong box is certainly one of the more secure ways to protect it.

One cause for this increased interest in bike locks is the cost of bicycles today.

According to Bicycle Universe, here are some estimates for the cost of bicycles today:

Road bikes - from $350 to $700 Mountain bikes - $1000 on average Single-speed bikes - $400 on average Beach cruiser bikes - $200 to $300 Recumbent bikes - $1000 to $2000 (where the rider is in a laid-back position) Children's bike 8 and younger - $140 to $200.

As you can see, bicycles are not cheap.

Here's another cause for concern with bicyclists.

Bicycle thefts are on the rise.

Today, street crooks are becoming more adept at cutting through bike locks. Many carry their own pair of metal cutters with them. They steal the bikes and resell them or break them into parts and sell the pieces.

The

Dog park equipment makes your dog park a fun place to hang out and get exercise. See our promotion below on how to receive a FREE DOGGIE FIRE HYDRANT (pictured above) with the purchase of a Dog Agility Kit

In its annual survey of park professionals conducted by Recreation Management magazine, dog parks continue to rank high for scheduled improvements.

The survey is conducted by the magazine every year and asks park and recreation managers about such topics as budget increases, expected park participation and scheduled projects.

Here's the list of the Top 10 planned projects on average and the percentage of park managers who reported they will be working on these projects:

Splash parks - 25.6% Dog parks - 22.4% Playgrounds - 21.6% Fitness trails and outdoor fitness equipment 21% Park restroom structures - 18.7% Walking and hiking trails - 18.4% Park shelters - 18.1% Synthetic turf sports fields - 16.7% Bike trails - 15.5% Disco golf courses - 12.6%

What's interesting, is that Dog Parks have

"Architecture is about trying to make the world a little bit more like our dreams." - Bjarke Ingels "The desire to reach for the sky runs very deep in the human psyche." - Cesar Pelli "Architecture is a visual art, and the buildings speak for themselves." - Julia Morgan "In architecture 'small changes' do change everything." - Anonymous "Architecture is not based on concrete and steel, and the elements of the soil. It's based on wonder." - David Libeskind "Architecture is the triumph of human imagination over materials, methods, and men, to put man into possession of his own Earth. It is at least the geometric pattern of things, of life, of the human and social world. It is at best that magic framework of reality that we sometimes touch upon when we use the word order." - Frank Lloyd Wright "Architecture is a learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light." - Le Corbusie  "It takes a lot of effort to make a building look effortless." - Norman Foster "My architecture

Recycled plastic benches recently added to Camp Saginaw, a popular summer destination for kids from 6 to 16

Recycled plastic benches from The Park and Facilities Catalog fill the needs of a summer camp located in Eastern Pennsylvania and makes their maintenance chores much easier.

The location is called Camp Saginaw. Every summer, it's a fun-filled home away from home to about 400 boys and girls ranging from ages 6 to 16.

There they participate in more than 50 activities that according to their website, strengthen athletic abilities, cultivate artistic talents and helps them make new friends.

The camp is accredited ty the American Camping Association and operated by the same family for the past 33 years.

The recycled plastic benches were installed in the "Central Camp" area surrounding a large fire pit.

"We choose these benches because they are indestructible," said Mike Petkov, owner, and director. "For years we used PT wood and the wood required regular maintenance. These benches allow

"The good building is not one that hurts the landscape, but one which makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before the building was built." - Frank Lloyd Wright "What we can do as landscape architects is look at how we can use materials to the best advantage. And our resources like water. Water is so precious that we can't waste it. We have to use it in small amounts. And we have to use it effectively. - Pamela Palmer "Any work of architecture which does not express serenity is a mistake." - Luis Barragan "I think one of the primary goals of feminist landscape architecture would be to work toward a public landscape in which we can roam the streets at midnights, in which every square is available for Virginia Woolf to make up her novels." - Rebecca Solnit "Landscape architecture…shares an interest in aesthetics, pleasure, and amenity with gardening, which links it, not only to the earliest settlements and cultivations, but also to ancient dreams of paradise." - Landscape