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Cultural festivals are both attractions and destinations, which use cultural offerings as thematic elements to attract visitors. These festivals provide their patrons with both education and entertainment. This is further complicated by the large variety of motivations for festival attendees. One important motivation for festival patrons is learning, which can be linked to the construct of mindfulness. Mindful visitors are those who are receptive to educational experiences. When mindful visitors interact with certain setting factors, they exhibit greater satisfaction and greater learning outcomes. This study looks at learning motivated attendees of the Global Fusion Festival, an annual multicultural festival held in Philadelphia, to better understand the relationship between learning motivation and satisfaction and learning outcomes. Increased knowledge of this relationship can lead to better planning and marketing of event functions, particularly with regard to programming of activities. / Tourism and Sport

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The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to explore how parents understand and experience their child’s involvement and non-involvement in community leisure experiences. The study involved five parents with children between eight and twenty-one years of age, and asked them about the recreation experiences of their child who had a cognitive and/or physical disability. Narrative methodology enabled a holistic, comprehensive and personal approach to exploring their experiences. Each parent completed two narrative interviews, the first to produce a narrative account and the second to explore the meaning of his or her narrative. This study used a two step analysis process to explore the narratives. The descriptive analysis focused on establishing the context, and creating the narrative account using the interview transcripts and my interpretation of the stories. An interpretive analysis was completed in three phases to explore the purpose of the story, the order and sequence and presentation of self, and explored the cultural practices of the narratives. From the narratives I found many parents told their stories for other parents or recreation practitioners. The key message from the stories was the importance of recreation for social networking for both parent and child. Important spaces from the stories were identified: space to be social, space to succeed and space to be engaged or included. Other characters played critical roles in the recreation experiences. Internal conflict was often experienced by parents where the desire for the child to participate clashed with the parents’ hesitation, concern, or schedule. The final phase of analysis revealed a difference between my understandings of key terms (segregation, integration and inclusion) and the parents’ understandings of those terms. Many parents and children had experienced a level of exclusion both from and within recreation experiences. Inclusion was found to be an enabling and disabling practice. I found gains in political power developed through increases in social and psychological power. Levels of trust and the phases of empowerment were important to the parents’ understandings of inclusion. The conclusions identified the parents as being responsible for negotiating recreation, and the children had an awareness of their disability. Finally, discrepancies about the meaning of segregation, integration and inclusion were identified.

The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to explore how parents understand and experience their child’s involvement and non-involvement in community leisure experiences. The study involved five parents with children between eight and twenty-one years of age, and asked them about the recreation experiences of their child who had a cognitive and/or physical disability. Narrative methodology enabled a holistic, comprehensive and personal approach to exploring their experiences. Each parent completed two narrative interviews, the first to produce a narrative account and the second to explore the meaning of his or her narrative. This study used a two step analysis process to explore the narratives. The descriptive analysis focused on establishing the context, and creating the narrative account using the interview transcripts and my interpretation of the stories. An interpretive analysis was completed in three phases to explore the purpose of the story, the order and sequence and presentation of self, and explored the cultural practices of the narratives. From the narratives I found many parents told their stories for other parents or recreation practitioners. The key message from the stories was the importance of recreation for social networking for both parent and child. Important spaces from the stories were identified: space to be social, space to succeed and space to be engaged or included. Other characters played critical roles in the recreation experiences. Internal conflict was often experienced by parents where the desire for the child to participate clashed with the parents’ hesitation, concern, or schedule. The final phase of analysis revealed a difference between my understandings of key terms (segregation, integration and inclusion) and the parents’ understandings of those terms. Many parents and children had experienced a level of exclusion both from and within recreation experiences. Inclusion was found to be an enabling and disabling practice. I found gains in political power developed through increases in social and psychological power. Levels of trust and the phases of empowerment were important to the parents’ understandings of inclusion. The conclusions identified the parents as being responsible for negotiating recreation, and the children had an awareness of their disability. Finally, discrepancies about the meaning of segregation, integration and inclusion were identified.

Recreation planning occurs in many Ontario municipalities, yet there is little research on the factors leading to successful implementation. Recreation departments are often asked to do more with less, which is difficult without a comprehensive plan. The current study examined nine Ontario municipalities to determine the factors that lead to implementation of their recreation master planning. Results revealed that there are many factors required for implementation, including: creating a comprehensive terms of reference, educating staff on planning principles, working with a planning consultant, working successfully with other municipal departments, involving a variety of stakeholders in the process, having the plan available to the public, and creating a method for reviewing and updating the plan. The study also found that the planning process should include: thoughtfulness when creating the terms of reference, extensive public consultation, effective staff consultation, frequent council input, consultation with a recreation planner, and a method for updating and reviewing the plan. The research also found that the plan content should include: goals, background information, internal and external resource, facility and program inventory, public consultation results, and an extensive implementation section.

This thesis discusses accessibility issues for persons with mobility restrictions visiting Sabino Canyon Recreation Area's Upper Canyon near Tucson, Arizona. A shuttle bus from the Visitor Center area provides the only motorized access into the Canyon interior. Designated shuttle stop areas are inaccessible, preventing some individuals with mobility problems from extending their time in the natural setting. The purpose of this study was to investigate physical inaccessibility at the shuttle stops and provide design recommendations to improve access appropriate to the natural setting, using proposed guidelines which are being considered by the USDA Forest Service, Sabino's managing agency, for its outdoor recreation areas. The methods used were an evaluation of each shuttle stop area and application of the proposed guidelines to assign accessibility accommodation levels to each shuttle stop. Recommended modifications within each level are given. Conceptual plans for two shuttle stop areas and detailed drawings for facility accessibility are provided. A review of literature on human preferences and psychological benefits associated with natural environments, the impacts of physical disabilities, and accessibility legislation and standards is included.

Recreation planning occurs in many Ontario municipalities, yet there is little research on the factors leading to successful implementation. Recreation departments are often asked to do more with less, which is difficult without a comprehensive plan. The current study examined nine Ontario municipalities to determine the factors that lead to implementation of their recreation master planning. Results revealed that there are many factors required for implementation, including: creating a comprehensive terms of reference, educating staff on planning principles, working with a planning consultant, working successfully with other municipal departments, involving a variety of stakeholders in the process, having the plan available to the public, and creating a method for reviewing and updating the plan. The study also found that the planning process should include: thoughtfulness when creating the terms of reference, extensive public consultation, effective staff consultation, frequent council input, consultation with a recreation planner, and a method for updating and reviewing the plan. The research also found that the plan content should include: goals, background information, internal and external resource, facility and program inventory, public consultation results, and an extensive implementation section.

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