How Grapevine Parks & Rec Built an Amazon-Like Registration
See how Grapevine, TX's Parks & Rec team uses filters, personalization, and reporting to make registration effortless
July 7, 2026
5 min read
Parents don't want to scroll through a catalog to find a swim lesson. They want to search, click, and check out... The same way they'd buy anything else online. That expectation doesn't pause at the door of a Parks & Rec department, and meeting it has become part of the job.
Jennifer, Recreation Manager for the City of Grapevine, Texas, has spent nearly twenty years in the field. From lifeguard and camp counselor , she now overseeing aquatics, therapeutic recreation, active adults, and the rec center for a community of 55,000! She joined the Parks & Tech Collective show to talk about how technology, and Amilia's SmartRec platform specifically, has changed the way her team runs registration and tells its story.
Registration should feel like shopping, not searching
The bar for "easy" shopping has moved. Families compare every online experience to the one they get from Amazon, and recreation registration is no exception.
"You want a technology base that's easy for the customer," Jennifer said. "They want to be able to look up a class, click on it, add it to their cart, and check out."
That standard shapes how Grapevine presents its programs online today: integrated directly into the city's website, so signing up feels like one continuous experience instead of a detour to a separate system.
Filters do the sorting so parents don't have to
Before online registration matured, finding the right class meant scrolling: class after class, page after page. Jennifer described it as a "doom scroll" parents don't have time for. Amilia SmartRec Filters changed that. A parent with a nine-year-old interested in karate can narrow results down to age, activity, and time slot in a few clicks instead of combing through every listing.
With Amilia SmartRec tool for Parks and Recreation management, parents and families can:
- Search by activity, age group, or schedule
- Drill down from a broad category to the exact class in seconds
- Spend less time hunting, having more time for signing up
Data has become the department's storytelling tool
Registration data isn't just operational: it's how Grapevine makes its case internally. From email to social media communication, Jennifer's team uses reporting to see which programs are thriving and which need a second look, but also, plan on sharing all updates in a seamless way to residents and families.
"I use that data to help tell our story. If a class draws only a couple of registrants over several months, that's a signal to consolidate, reschedule, or retire it, it is freeing up staff time and facility space for programs the community actually wants”Jennifer, Recreation Manager for the City of Grapevine, Texas
One connected platform, from checkout to Child Watch
Grapevine has layered in more capability over time without adding more systems for staff to juggle: check-in software for its Child Watch program, and a personal training app that lets members book a trainer and time slot on their own.
Amilia SmartRec gives teams like Grapevine's more time for the part of the job that doesn't show up in a report: being, as Jennifer put it, the community's memory makers.
