Matt Purkins: The Personable Parks & Recreation Public Servant with Many Hats

Matt Purkins, veteran public servant and Director of Hanover Borough Parks and Recreation and Interim Director of the Guthrie Memorial Library, stops in the Walk-in Sound Studio for a lively conversation about recreation, resources, reservoir properties, and wonderful opportunities in the parks, library and wild areas of Hanover.

While discussing the bright future of the HanoverLand History, Ghosts, and Folklore tours, Matt also reveals the endangered status of the mysterious Dickcissel, a mythical bird with a haunting mating call known to roam rural HanoverLand.

Bio: Matt Purkins has been the Parks and Recreation Director for Hanover Borough since January 2024. He is also the interim director of the Guthrie Memorial Library. Matt started his career in the recreation and parks field in 2004 as the Manager of the Carroll County Sports Complex in Westminster, MD, a position he held until 2018. From there he moved onto Baltimore County Recreation and Parks as a Community Supervisor II for the Hereford Zone. In 2022 he accepted the position of Fiscal Manager for Dauphin County Parks and Recreation. Matt gladly accepted the position as Hanover’s first full time Parks and Recreation Director in 2024.

Matt has served as president of the Maryland Recreation and Parks Association (MRPA) from 2012-2014 and is a two-time chair of the Recreation and Leisure Services Branch of MRPA. He is a member of both MRPA and the Pennsylvania Recreation and Parks Society. He currently serves on the Fairview Township Recreation Board and is the umpire assigner/assistant umpire in chief for the Carroll County Umpire’s Association.