CULLMAN, Ala. — The Cullman City Council on Monday evening took time to recognize Cullman Parks, Recreation & Sports Tourism (CPRST) for its recent reception of the National Gold Medal Award from the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration (AAPRA), in partnership with the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA).
Council President Jenny Folsom noted that CPRST was “the first and the only agency in Alabama” to receive the prestigious award.
Accompanied by numerous representatives of the agency and its board, CPRST Executive Director Nathan Anderson told the council, “These guys right here represent a small sample of our entire team, who work tirelessly to make our park system, our recreation program, our events the best the absolute best in the country. And I’ve known it for many, many years, that we are the best, and it’s great to finally get the national recognition at the highest level.
“Just to put this into perspective, in our space this is the Super Bowl of awards. This is the top honor we can achieve. This is a testament to their hard work and dedication.”
The nomination process viewed up to 10,000 eligible agencies across the United States, with some of the fiercest competition coming in the Class V division, for agencies serving populations of 30,000 or fewer.
Anderson told the council about his staff, “The hours they spent making it the best and managing what we have with the resources, the limited resources we have, we’re very thankful. And also to you guys for the support. We could not do it without you, we could not do it without our community. This is a great place to run parks and do recreational programming and innovative special events like we’re doing right now with Christkindlmarkt. So it’s truly a blessing to serve this team and serve this community. I could not be more proud of them.”
For more information on Cullman Parks, Recreation & Sports Tourism, visit www.cullmanrecreation.org.
For more about the award, see www.aapra.org/National-Gold-Medal-Award.
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