In the September 2010 issue of Parks & Recreation, Paul Gilbert, Executive Director of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, debuted a reader-contributed column called Vikings or Farmers. With the legendary Norsemen as his metaphor for visionary, activist leadership, Gilbert challenged park administrators to break out of static, status quo thinking he sees as embodied by farmers. “Agencies that show their value to the community in new and exciting ways and are less dependent on traditional sources of tax revenues will succeed. They will be Viking agencies,”  Gilbert wrote. His column generated three follow-up columns from agency directors on the Vikings and Farmers theme. In his role as adjunct professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, Gilbert had students in his class on Administration of Park, Health & Tourism Organizations read the four articles and then write the fifth in the series. Following are excerpts from some of his students’ papers.

Common Threads
The common thread linking these articles is the notion that the future of parks and recreation authorities may be doomed to buy the farm unless a more Viking sort of approach is taken. So what happens next? Where the focus of an agency lies, is where the agency will go. 
--Mandy E. Goodman

Best of Both Worlds
Vikings had their century and made their mark on history.  They roamed around seeking new things and claiming what they felt they deserved. They were powerful and worked as a group, not as a rogue individual.
 The Farmer must manage what he has and the way he does that basically works, but there is no room for growth or expansion. The Farmer may maintain their end of the management team very well, but very little change is ever experienced.
 The best of both worlds would allow a combination of the ambitious Viking and the realistic Farmer to co-exist.  Having a management team able to bring new ideas to the table without fear but still managing the tasks at hand would allow for the most growth and flourishing outcome for the agency.
--Rachel E. Carpino

Coexistence
In the previous articles, it seemed as though the farmers or managers were being frowned upon.  The farmers are just as important, if not more important than the Vikings, in a park and recreation agency. Farmers keep operations going and are the ones who directly influence a visitors experience. They tidy things up, make sure everyone working at the park is on the same page and even implement their own spin on how things should be done.  The farmers are the glue that holds an agency together. Vikings need farmers to take care of their already settled areas while they expand the agency as a whole. 
--Brent Hodnett

Stagnant and Satisfied
The point that the four articles was how to better manage parks and recreation organizations and whether being a Viking or a Farmer better suits this goal. In my opinion, being a Viking is much more influential and motivating then being stagnant and satisfied with the ways of the past.  Reaching goals in life takes action; accomplishment is not for the weary farmer, but for the imaginative Viking who strives for a goal and brings his team along with him on the journey.
--Lauren Turner

What about the Future?
All of such methods can help us improve and generate, but let us not skimp out on the most important Viking characteristic. They adapt. Our field is volatile. We deal with ups, downs and standstills. Therefore, we need to accommodate such change. Adapt to our means. Whether that means restructuring our teams, pushing forward or moving back our timelines or even forming an alliance to survive.

This brings us to the abiding question, what is the future for parks and recreation fields? Well, the truth is that much of it is up to us. We can work to survive, like farmers. Or we can attempt to grow, like Vikings.