Press Releases

Escape the Indoors With Great Outdoors Month® 2018!
Great Outdoors Month 2018

Washington, D.C. (May 4, 2018) – The weather is warming up and that means summer vacation is right around the corner. Great Outdoors Month® 2018 is a great way to experience healthy, active outdoor family fun in your great outdoors! Public and private organizations from across the country are coming together as members of the Great Outdoors Month® Council to help all Americans Escape the Indoors and celebrate the educational, economic, health, and social benefits of active fun outdoors. 

In 2018, events like Kids to Parks™ Day, the American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day®, Bike Travel Weekend, National Fishing and Boating Week, National Get Outdoors Day, National Marina Day, the Great Outdoors National Day of Service, the Great American Campout and more will encourage people of all ages to Escape the Indoors and discover new ways to have fun with family and friends this June. 

America’s kids face an outdoor crisis. A generation ago, kids spent more than four hours a day outside – now, it’s less than 40 minutes per week. Being outside has a multitude of health benefits. Children who engage in active fun outdoors are more likely to be physically fit, have better eyesight, improved cognitive development and more. And, the closer we feel to nature, the greater our concern for it becomes.

In addition to the consumer events, America’s governors continue to show support for Great Outdoors Month. On February 23, the Great Outdoors Month® Council and the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable honored America’s governors as “Champions of the Great Outdoors” with the unveiling of the first-ever Great Outdoors Challenge Coin. Governors will host “ConnectWithFun” events inviting kids to touch, get in, climb on and have their pictures taken with RVs and boats, ATVs and kayaks, tents and Forest Service fire trucks, park ranger cars and motorcycles, wear various recreation equipment and much more. Governors will also work with their state tourism agencies to produce PSAs highlighting their state’s outdoor recreation opportunities. And we once again expect all 50 governors to proclaim June Great Outdoors Month®.

2017 was the most successful Great Outdoors Month® yet. More than a million people took part in thousands of events in all 50 states celebrating our nation’s outdoor treasures. For the 14th straight year, the President proclaimed June Great Outdoors Month®. In a Great Outdoors Month® first, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution designating June 2017 Great Outdoors Month®. And Governors continued to champion the great outdoors by hosting special celebrations at their residences or in nearby state parks. Great Outdoors Month® 2018 will continue these great traditions.

“All of the organizations involved are in the business of family fun, togetherness, adventure and making memories, and there’s no better way to accomplish these things than spending time together outdoors,” said Great Outdoors Month Council Chairman Frank Peterson. “We’re inviting Americans to Escape the Indoors during the month of June and throughout the year to disconnect from their hectic lives and take in all the wonderful things nature has to offer.” 

For further information: David Rodgers, drodgers@rbff.org, 703-253-7268

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