What Happens When a Recreation and Parks Director Goes All In on Free Outdoor Fitness

news@nfchq.com

Most parks and recreation professionals understand the value of outdoor fitness infrastructure. Fewer are willing to do what it takes to actually bring it to life, champion it internally, and launch it publicly in the middle of a pandemic. Aaron Davis, Recreation and Parks Director in Mebane, North Carolina, did all of that, and then some. And the results are still showing up in the data.

The Mebane Fitness Court at Mebane Community Park has logged more than 83,000 visits since opening in September 2020. That number did not happen by accident. It happened because a recreation and parks director saw a gap in his community's wellness infrastructure and decided to close it, and because he built around the Fitness Court with the kind of intentionality that turns a piece of outdoor equipment into a genuine community asset.

Starting before anyone knew how hard it would get

Aaron first engaged with the National Fitness Campaign in 2019, well before the world changed. The decision to bring a Fitness Court to Mebane was rooted in a straightforward belief: outdoor, free, bodyweight-based fitness belonged in a community like his. The seven-station design, the digital programming, the placement in a public park, it all pointed toward something that could serve the broadest possible cross-section of Mebane residents without a membership fee or a commute.

Then 2020 arrived. By the time the Fitness Court was ready to open in September of that year, the idea of launching a community fitness amenity felt either perfectly timed or completely impossible, depending on how you looked at it. Aaron chose to see it as the former. His team installed sanitation stations throughout the surrounding park to make residents feel safe using the space, and they held a ribbon cutting ceremony, virtually, because the community deserved to know this was available to them even if they could not gather in person to celebrate it.

The city's leadership showed up for that moment. Mayor Ed Hooks addressed the community directly: "We hope that you enjoy this and we hope that it will provide the fitness benefits that you deserve. Along with our walking trails and greenway that we're getting ready to build, this will be a great addition to the fitness emphasis we have here in Mebane." City Manager David Cheek echoed those sentiments, and Assistant City Manager Chris Rollins presided over a ribbon cutting where each participant cut individually, social distancing observed, commitment fully intact. The symbolism of a city pausing to celebrate a wellness investment in the middle of a public health crisis was not lost on anyone watching.

Going above and beyond to activate the community

One of the things that makes the Fitness Court model work for parks departments is that NFC builds the activation infrastructure from the start. Every Fitness Court comes supported by a free app and a linked workout library that walks users through all seven stations at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, giving community members the tools to get started on their own from day one. Partners do not need to run classes or teach every workout firsthand for the Fitness Court to deliver value. The resources are already there.

What Aaron did in Mebane went well beyond what the campaign asks of its partners, and it reflects his particular commitment to his community. Working alongside members of Mebane's Women's Club and the Mebane on the Move initiative, he filmed his own YouTube tutorials walking through all seven stations, adding a local, familiar face to the experience that the app alone could not provide. He ran a recurring class called "Get Active with Aaron" directly at the Fitness Court in its early days. As a board member of the North Carolina Recreation and Park Association at the time, he hosted a virtual webinar in 2020 presenting the Mebane project and encouraging peer communities across the state to explore the same investment. That kind of advocacy, doing the work for your own community and then turning around to help the person next to you, is not in any playbook. It came from Aaron.

Five years of people showing up

The usage data tells a story that holds up over time. In its first year alone, the Mebane Fitness Court saw more than 16,000 visits, a remarkable number for a brand new outdoor amenity launched in the middle of a pandemic. In the years that followed, visitation settled into a consistent rhythm, and across six consecutive years of active community use, the Fitness Court has now surpassed 83,000 total visits. Engagement has remained steady through the most recent 12 months, a sign that this space has genuinely become part of how Mebane residents stay active, not a novelty that faded after the ribbon was cut.

A Fitness Court that was well-placed and well-supported from the beginning holds its audience. The 2020 peak reflects the particular hunger for outdoor space during the pandemic, but the floor that established itself in the years that followed is what matters most. The Mebane Fitness Court has never gone unused. That does not happen without intentional stewardship from the people who championed it.

What made it work: the whole picture

Ask Aaron what he would tell another recreation and parks director considering this investment, and his answer is less about the equipment and more about the ecosystem around it. He has thought carefully about what makes a Fitness Court actually work in a community, and his perspective comes from five years of watching it play out in real time:

"Put it in a place that can be a complement to cardio. You can do both on the Fitness Court, but when you put it next to a walking path, people walk a lap, stop and do a few stations, then walk another lap. That combination is what I love most about it. We are just bringing all the things together, and that has been really special."

Aaron Davis, Recreation and Parks Director, City of Mebane

That philosophy is visible in how Mebane Community Park has developed around the Fitness Court. The park includes a stage where holiday events and community gatherings are regularly hosted. Parents use the Fitness Court while their kids practice on nearby fields. The Mebane Women's Club, a longstanding civic partner, remains connected to fitness programming at the site. Aaron and his team, with support from City Council, has more than doubled the city's overall programming since 2019, and the Fitness Court remains an anchor within that broader ecosystem: a visible, permanent signal that Mebane takes wellness seriously.

The goal he set out to achieve, improving programming and access across the city, has been met. And the Fitness Court he championed during one of the most difficult years in recent memory is still drawing consistent visits year after year to prove it.

What this means for your community

The foundation of what made Mebane work is the same foundation available to every NFC partner: a thoughtfully designed Fitness Court, a free app and workout library that puts guided programming directly in the hands of community members, and NFC's consulting support through adoption, launch, and community activation. What Aaron layered on top of that was his own passion and advocacy, which accelerated the impact, creating synergy with the infrastructure that was already there to build on.

The communities where Fitness Courts become lasting wellness hubs are the ones where someone in a position of influence decides to own the project, connect the dots between the Fitness Court and everything else happening in their parks, and trust that the community will show up when given something worth showing up for. Mebane did, and the data makes a compelling case that yours can too.

If you are a recreation and parks director, recreation professional, or civic leader thinking about what free outdoor fitness infrastructure could mean for your community, we would love to help you build something just as lasting. Contact NFC to get started today.

‍