Thousands of parks and recreation professionals head to Indy for annual conference

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The National Recreation and Park Recreation Association’s annual conference is happening in Indianapolis starting Tuesday.

People are coming in from all around the country to help parks in every state. As host city, Indianapolis can expect 8,000 attendees, more than 500 expert speakers and nearly 300 education sessions.

There will be a lot to do in Indianapolis and central Indiana for conference attendees. Indianapolis has some of the best parks around the country and the next two days they will be on display for conference goers. 

Attendees will get to experience a tree top adventure outing, a downtown canal paddling trip, a golf tournament or the 5K fun run/walk.  Inside the convention center, visitors will get to test out cutting-edge playground equipment, athletic gear, aquatics products and other services from some of the top brands in the exhibit hall. 

Also, there are activities planned for outside the convention center, including a river float hosted by the local organization Reconnecting to our Waterways (ROW). Groundwork Indy and Friends of the White River are working with ROW to build community trust by having youth from Riverside lead floats, including this weekend. Those young people have been trained as river tour guides and are compensated for their work. 

The conference brings people from all different kinds of parks who are dedicated to the advancement of public parks, recreation and conservation. Health and wellness are a big part of parks and recreation departments all over the country as well. Visitors will get to engage with other experts on how to improve their local public spaces. The goal is to get as many people educated in the advancement of public parks, recreation and conservation.