Cullman Parks, Recreation & Sports Tourism Director Nathan Anderson makes a presentation, accompanied by preliminary architectural renderings, showing the wide range of uses for the new facility at the Sept. 9 Cullman City Council meeting.

Cullman Parks, Recreation, & Sports Tourism has been awarded a national accreditation through the Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA). The agency is the first in the state of Alabama and one of only 169 agencies in the United States to receive the accreditation.

“This is a great accomplishment by our whole team,” said Cullman Parks, Recreation & Sports Tourism Director Nathan Anderson.

“To be named the first in the state of Alabama is something special. I’m very proud of our whole team. It’s a credit to the efforts of a large group of people… the board and council and mayor,” he said.

Cullman City Councilman Clint Hollingsworth said this was one more goal the department set for itself.

Cullman has invested in major upgrades of its parks in recent years as well as added tournaments that bring visitors in statewide and nationally. A recent report on the summer recreation league noted that the tournaments have more than a $1 million economic impact, locally, in under three months.

“This is just great. They’ve been working on this for over 4 years. It’s a huge, huge honor for Cullman Parks & Recreation. It’s another mark they set for themselves and hit,” Hollingsworth said.