One of my favorite parts of working on the Product team at Rec is hearing directly from the teams using Rec every day. In addition to getting great feedback on our technology, we learn how departments are running their operations, where they're spending unnecessary time, and which parts of their processes still require a second or third tool because the right solution simply hasn't existed.

Frustration with events platforms came up in those conversations again and again. Departments told us they were juggling registration software, third-party ticketing platforms, spreadsheets, and manual check-in processes just to run a single event. None of those tools were built specifically for parks and recreation, insight was difficult to glean from disconnected data and nothing worked together the way they should.

That's what led us to build Events & Ticketing.

Events deserve software built for parks and recreation

Community events are some of the most rewarding things a parks and recreation department puts together. Whether it's a summer concert, a movie night in the park, a holiday market, a fundraiser, or a Halloween trunk-or-treat, these are the moments that bring people together and often become the memories residents talk about long after they're over.

The surprising part is that, despite how important these events are, departments have never really had software designed specifically to run them.

Instead, they've been forced to choose between two options that each solve part of the problem: registration systems or third-party ticketing platforms. Registration systems are great when someone is signing up for an eight-week swim class, but they're a much tougher fit when one resident wants to buy six tickets, hundreds of people arrive within the same half hour, or check-in needs to happen in seconds instead of minutes.

Third-party ticketing platforms understand events, but they don't understand parks and recreation. They don't know who parks and recreation residents are, so offering resident pricing becomes difficult. They don't know who holds a recreation membership, so member presales require extra work. And because they live completely outside your recreation platform, residents leave your website to buy tickets while your event data ends up disconnected from everything else your department does.

Neither approach ever felt like the right answer.

Building something that actually fits

When we started working on Events & Ticketing, we weren't trying to build another ticketing platform. We were trying to build the product we kept wishing existed for our partners whenever we heard these conversations.

We wanted something that felt just as polished for residents as the consumer apps people use every day, while giving staff one connected place to manage every part of an event.

That vision shaped every part of what we built:

Residents can browse a public event calendar alongside programs, memberships, and facility reservations, purchase tickets for their entire group in one transaction, receive tickets as PDFs with QR codes or Apple Wallet passes, and automatically get reminders before the event.

On the staff side, creating an event takes just a few minutes. Departments can set up multiple ticket tiers, create early bird or members-only sale windows, offer resident pricing, manage capacities, sell tickets online or at the front desk, and even sell concessions alongside admission because Events is fully connected to Rec POS.

Then, when event day arrives, staff and volunteers can scan tickets from any phone, look attendees up by name if needed, and watch attendance update in real time. Everything from promotion to check-in to reporting happens in one place instead of across multiple systems.

Where everything comes together

The thing that really sets Rec Events & Ticketing apart isn't mobile ticketing or QR code scanning, even though those are great features. It's the fact that none of this exists in isolation.

Because Events is part of Rec, resident discounts don't require another integration. Member presales don't mean exporting another spreadsheet. Residents don't have to leave your website to complete their purchase, and every event becomes another way to introduce people to the rest of what parks and recreation departments offer, whether that's programs, memberships, facility rentals, or something entirely different.

That idea has always been at the center of how we've approached product at Rec. Rather than building disconnected tools, we want to create one platform that supports the way communities actually operate.

Already helping cities run their biggest events

The City of Torrance, California, used Rec to power four community watch parties during the 2026 FIFA World Cup that welcomed more than 2,200 attendees. The city also moved one of its most anticipated annual community traditions, Dodgers Day, onto Rec Events. The event sold out, ticket sales increased by approximately 23% year over year, and staff spent significantly less time managing setup and logistics.

Jurupa Valley, California, saw similar success with its Independence Day Celebration, selling 6,000 tickets and generating $60,000 in gross revenue. On event day, the city relied on Rec's mobile check-in scanning to keep entry lines moving quickly and volunteers focused on getting attendees through the gates efficiently.

A new way to experience Rec

One thing we're especially excited about is that parks and recreation departments don't have to replace their recreation platform to start using Events. It's available as a standalone product, so whether you're running concerts, festivals, fundraisers, sporting events, or community trips, you can start there and expand into programs, memberships, facilities, and everything else when the time is right.

At the end of the day, events should be remembered for the experience they create, not the software that powered them. If Rec has done our job well, parks and recreation staff will spend less time troubleshooting technology, volunteers will spend more time welcoming residents, and your community will simply enjoy a great event.

That's why we built Events & Ticketing, and we can't wait to see what our partners create with it.

Want to see what Events & Ticketing could look like for your department? Reach out to the Rec team to learn more.