Starkville Parks and Rec General Manager briefs community leaders at Starkville Rotary Club
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – It may look like fun and games, but recreation is getting to be big business, and the City of Starkville has been steadily working on building that business.
Greg Owen, the General Manager of Starkville Parks and Recreation, briefed area business and community leaders on what his department is doing to not only provide recreational opportunities for the area, but also economic development in the form of tourism.
Starkville Parks and Rec surveyed the community last Spring and began to form a three-phase 10-year plan.
The first phase involves adding new sports, including youth volleyball and adult flag football and volleyball.
Four to seven years out, Owen wants to have Starkville Parks certified by the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies, or CAPRA. This will help them attract more tournaments, which in turn will have a ripple effect throughout the business community.
“When we’re looking at tournaments, we’re looking for 2-3 day tournaments when people come in. Now, we still do one-day tournaments as well. We want to meet the needs of everyone, but the multi-day tournaments are big for us, because when we’re able to provide these, we’re able to provide our local businesses and restaurants and hotels; we give them more of an opportunity to sell. So, it’s an economic impact for us, which is really big. At Cornerstone Park in general, it’s really important to us, because we have a chance to showcase our service and hospitality,” said Greg.
Recreation officials are gearing up for a busy Fall season, with events or tournaments scheduled from August 22nd through Thanksgiving.
