In my Editor’s Note this time last year, I wrote about my 20-year-old house’s deferred maintenance—the previous owner’s gift that keeps on giving. Broken stuff was top of mind. Aging home aside, however, that tends to be where my mind goes anytime maintenance comes up in conversation.
When I first started writing for PRB+ as a freelancer, I thought about the subject quite literally. All the articles I pitched were about repairs, with maybe a sprinkling of prevention. The essence boiled down to one idea: stuff breaks and needs to be fixed.
It’s not that this angle isn’t relevant. In fact, park leaders think about it often. Over the last few years, chatting with industry pros around the country across a range of topics, deferred maintenance came up time and again. Whether we were discussing a baseball stadium or a green roof, one of the primary concerns was keeping facilities or equipment in good working order.
But like anything else in this sector, maintenance is a far more nuanced topic.
The word comes from the Old French maintenir, which means to “support, uphold, aid” or “hold fast, keep in possession, preserve from capture or loss.” Yes, repairs are part of the act of supporting, upholding, or aiding. But there’s more to preserving than simply fixing, and tangible items aren’t the only things that need to be maintained.
So, this year’s issue harkens to maintenance’s etymology and tackles the topic from a more strategic point of view.
In traditional terms, there are some well-researched and insightful stories about the art of fixing, ranging from ice rinks to spring-focused seasonal tasks. But our writers are also concerned with strategies to make maintenance more efficient (with various AI tools) and ways to maintain strong community engagement (through youth involvement and volunteer appreciation).
Ultimately, maintenance is about care and respect for what we have, and in parks, rec, and camp, leaders have a lot of greenspaces, facilities, and equipment to safeguard. But they also have relationships to protect with staff, partners, vendors, and community members. Be it fixing a broken seesaw or asking participants for feedback on a new program, all of it is maintenance in the truest sense of the word. Every task and interaction plays a role in supporting, upholding, and aiding a municipality.
As you read this month’s issue, I hope that throughline is clear. The connection between AI-enabled datasheets and ice-rink repairs may not be immediately obvious, but they both have a hand in upholding the relationship between an organization and the people it serves. And that view of maintenance will always lead to new ideas—and new stories.
