This year’s theme, “Build Together, Play Together” is a reminder of the contributions of more than 160,000 full-time park and recreation professionals — along with hundreds of thousands of part-time and seasonal workers and volunteers — who maintain our country’s close-to-home parks. Each July, we celebrate park and recreation professionals and how they improve the lives of tens of millions of people, making a lasting impact in communities across the country. Park and recreation programs are essential to community health and well-being, and help cultivate lifelong friendships, memories and family bonds that people hold dear decades later.