Since 1985, America has celebrated July as the nation’s official Park and Recreation Month. Created by the National Recreation and Park Association, Park and Recreation Month specifically highlights the vital and powerful role local parks and recreation play in conservation, health and wellness, and social equity efforts in communities across the country.
This year’s theme, “Where Community Grows,” celebrates the vital role parks, open spaces, and recreation professionals play in bringing people together, providing essential services, and fostering the growth of our communities.
It takes a lot of “people power” to keep City of Sonoma parks maintained and the exciting recreation, youth, and senior programs offered by the City’s Community Partners running. Read on to learn more about the people and organizations behind Sonoma’s parks and recreational opportunities.
City Parks & Trails
Sonoma residents and visitors enjoy a variety of park amenities, from picnic tables and play structures to community gardens and hiking trails at Sonoma’s 17 parks encompassing nearly 40 acres of urban parks and 142 acres of natural open space parks.
The City’s parks are managed and maintained by the City of Sonoma Public Works Parks Division, assisted by Sonoma Overlook Trail Steward volunteers, Scandia Landscaping and Sonoma Ecology Center. Sonoma parks also play host to many special community events throughout the year, including the Annual Sonoma City Party on the Sonoma Plaza, coming up on August 3rd, 2023.
Recreation Provider Partnerships
The City provides recreation, leisure, and community services through investment in outside service agencies which provide youth programs, athletic programs, senior services, arts and theater, and the facilities that operate these programs. Our non-profit partner organizations which provide these Recreational and Community Programs are experts at delivering some traditional services provided by city governments elsewhere. Investing in our established recreation non-profits leverages the talents, skills, networks, and resources already available in the community. This approach has been proven to be cost-effective, efficient, and flexible to meet the changing needs of the community.
You can discover all the recreational opportunities our public parks, facilities, and non-profit organizations have to offer the community on the City’s virtual Parks and Recreation Directory.
So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and enjoy all that Sonoma’s parks and recreation partners have to offer!
For more information about Parks and Recreation in the City of Sonoma, please visit our Parks Division, Parks, Recreation & Community Services pages. For more information about Park and Recreation month, visit www.nrpa.org/July.