Park Board Earns National Gold Medal for Excellence in Recreation Management

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board won the 2024 National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management, its first since 1989 and the first in 35 years for a system long ranked among the best in the country.

The award, given by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration in partnership with the National Recreation and Park Association, recognized the board in Class I, for agencies serving populations over 400,001. Minneapolis was selected over finalists from Lawrenceville, Georgia; Tampa, Florida; and Shawnee Mission, Kansas. The board's winning application highlighted equity and accessibility work, including its Spark'd Studios program, the JD Rivers' Children's Garden and Indigenous land reclamation and restoration efforts. Details are posted at

The judges weighed long-range planning, resource management, programming and fiscally sound operations across the whole system, which spans 185 park properties, including the Chain of Lakes at the center of the lakes-and-hill neighborhoods.

The recognition arrived as the board confronted tighter finances. In December 2025 the board adopted a roughly $160 million budget for 2026 that prioritizes caring for aging park assets, after the end of federal pandemic-relief (ARPA) spending at the close of 2024 and with deferred maintenance affecting more than 150 neighborhood parks. Budget materials are at

For residents of Lowry Hill, Kenwood, East Isles, Cedar-Isles-Dean and the Wedge, the parks they use daily are run by a system held up nationally as a model. Residents can weigh in on how that system is funded and maintained through the board's public meetings and annual budget process.