Outdoor fitness provides a way for everyone to get active without having to pony up for a gym membership, and communities are increasingly using them to boost their health.

What can shade do for you? Boost revenue? Check. Create a gathering place? Check. Turn your park into a destination? Check. Increase attendance and patron comfort? Check.

People walk your grounds every day, and they likely have no idea how much work goes into making those sites functional and beautiful. This feature covers some best practices in grounds maintenance, with a special look at greener methods.

Welcome to our annual Problem-Solver Idea Book.Packed with scores of ideas, this reference tool was designed to help you tackle your most persistent and universal challenges, covering all the big basic questions. Consider it an industry guidebook of sorts, chock full of straightforward problem-solving tips.

Parks, sports, recreation and fitness facilities are finding innovative new ways to save money and make their budgets work. Whether through energy conservation, creative partnering or any of a number of other methods, these new strategies are delivering results.

Keeping aquatic facilities running smoothly requires close attention to daily, weekly and other regularly scheduled maintenance practices, as well as knowing when it's time to plan some renovations.

In our annual Salary Survey, based on responses from more than 2,100 professionals in the recreation, sports and fitness industry, we see how salaries are inching up, along with happiness at work.

Playgrounds have come a long way since their inception, with huge advances in safety, as well as increasingly creative solutions that get kids moving and having fun.

To design and develop an effective trail or greenway, you need to start with a proper plan. Community involvement and funding partnerships will help get the project off the ground.

YMCAs, JCCs and Boys & Girls Clubs continue to offer a wide range of opportunities for their members. Here we consider the latest trends in these mostly-nonprofit facilities.