The CARPD Conference is only six weeks away! See the below message from Executive Director, Matthew Duarte, with important info regarding our event and your sponsorship.

On behalf of the Board of Directors for the California Association of Recreation and Park Districts (“CARPD”), we wanted to thank you again for supporting our organization and our local park districts throughout the State. We have some great activities planned and some unique ways in which you can engage with our attendees, so we are very much looking forward to seeing everyone at our annual Conference next month in Monterey!

Additionally, we wanted to reach out to review some of the logistics so that you can plan your trip accordingly. We have some important information and new details for 2026, so please review carefully the below and let us know if you have any questions!

Important Upcoming Dates:

SWAG Deadline:                                 May 8th

Raffle Donation Deadline (Mail):       May 8th

Sponsor Exhibition Area Opens:      May 27th

SWAG & Raffle:

As a reminder, all of our attendees receive a SWAG bag at registration with goodies from many of our sponsors. We would love to have your company’s SWAG make it into the bag. Of course, you are not required to adhere to the theme. If you have items to share, please send them to our Roseville office no later than May 8th. We are expecting 125 total attendees. (See our mailing address at the end of this email.)

Also, at the Conference we run a Raffle which is always very popular. We are soliciting raffle items for this year and if you able to bring a gift basket with items (total value between $40-100), we would sincerely appreciate your donation. You can either bring them to the event or mail them to our office by May 8th. Thanks in advance for your contribution.

Sponsor Exhibition Area:

If you plan on attending in person and have requested a Sponsor table, we will again have a Sponsor Exhibition Area. The Exhibition Area will open for setup at approximately 2:30pm on Wednesday, May 27th. Booth selection will be first-come, first-served for sponsor levels below Gold. (Reminder: Bronze sponsors do not have a booth.) We will have six-foot tables available so that you can display your materials, but you are welcome to also bring additional signage should you so desire.

You can expect the busiest times in the Exhibition Area will be during meals and breaks. Since the Exhibition Area will be in the same room as the Conference Registration tables, Raffle tables, and our coffee stations, we expect everyone to get plenty of foot traffic!

NEW FOR 2026 – Our opening Wednesday night reception will take place on Wednesday, May 27th, at the world-famous Monterey Bay Aquarium! We will have shuttles running from the hotel to the Aquarium (and vice versa) starting at approximately 5:30pm. Food and drinks will be provided and we're excited to kick off the event at this unique location! There is limited space at the Aquarium and for those who noted in their registration that they will be in attendance, separate tickets will be provided to you at our Registration table. If you have any questions about this or anything related to the event, please contact Janay Hood at jhood@capri-jpa.gov.

NEW FOR 2026 –We are also excited to be hosting our inaugural golf tournament at the Del Monte Golf Course teeing off at 11:00am on Wednesday, May 27th. If you are interested in hitting the links, there is still space available and you can register to play HERE. If you have any questions about the tournament, please contact Janay Hood at jhood@capri-jpa.gov.

Sponsors Reception & Awards Banquet:

Our Sponsors’ Reception and Awards Banquet will be held on Thursday night, May 28th. As a thank you to our sponsors, we will be recognizing you for helping us make our event happen with this complimentary reception (drink tickets provided) and Banquet dinner. Dress for the Awards Banquet is semi-formal. We hope you will be able to join us for our Banquet and help us honor the CARPD Awards of Distinction winners for 2026.

 

Thank you again for your support. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly at (916) 722-5550 or at mduarte@capri-jpa.gov.  Thank you and we will see you in Monterey!