Fun By The Yard Celebrates Spring and Summer, Backyard Style

Contests Make the Case for a Staycation, Getting Back to Basics

MEMPHIS, Tenn., April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- If your budget is more "staycation" than vacation this summer, take heart: you can find a whole season of fun, right in your own backyard. The best part: you could even win a prize for it.

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TruGreen, the nation's largest lawn and landscaping company, today is launching a new Web site celebrating the great American backyard. The Web site, www.FunByTheYard.com, features everything you need to make your yard a relaxing, enjoyable place to spend your spring and summer. Along with recipes, games, and do-it-yourself lawn care tips, the Web site features contests where you can send videos and photos describing why you love your yard.

"Since many Americans will be staying home this spring and summer, we wanted to encourage homeowners to take full advantage of their outdoor living rooms," said Steve Donly, president and chief operating officer, TruGreen. "For obvious reasons, we love our yards at TruGreen, and we want to pay tribute to the simple things, like spending time with friends and family at home. At this time of year, that all starts with a great yard."

The contests on the Web site are designed to get entrants thinking about one simple idea: "Why I Love My Yard." For the video contest, entrants simply create and submit a video, 90 seconds or less, and the top three entrants will be awarded prizes. For the photo contest, you can submit a photo and a short caption, and a winner will be chosen each week by a random drawing. The deadline for both contests is July 15, 2009, and winners will be announced in August. For complete contest rules, visit www.FunByTheYard.com.

"With the current economy, this is a great time to encourage Americans to take another look at the simple things in life," said Donly. "Even setting aside the benefits to real estate value and the opportunities for neighborly one-upmanship, for millions of people a well-maintained lawn is integral to the concept of home. It's part of backyard barbecues, wiffle ball games, digging to China, and just feeling the cool under your feet as you retrieve the newspaper. Your lawn is the highlight of your staycation, and it's a great place to play, no matter what your age."

About TruGreen

TruGreen is the nation's largest lawn and landscape company, serving more than 2.5 million residential and commercial customers across the United States with lawn care, tree and shrub care, and landscaping services. As the current industry leader, TruGreen continues to pioneer the development of new technology for lawn care, and devotes substantial resources to evaluate new products and equipment continually. Today there are 268 TruGreen LawnCare branches in the United States and Canada, including 52 franchise locations. TruGreen is part of the ServiceMaster family of brands, one of the world's largest and most versatile service networks.

About ServiceMaster

ServiceMaster currently serves residential and commercial customers through a network of more than 5,500 company-owned locations and franchised licenses. The company's brands include TruGreen, TruGreen LandCare, Terminix, American Home Shield, ServiceMaster Clean, Merry Maids, Furniture Medic, and AmeriSpec. The core services of the company include lawn care and landscape maintenance, termite and pest control, home warranties, cleaning and disaster restoration, house cleaning, furniture repair and home inspection.

SOURCE TruGreen

RELATED LINKS
http://www.FunByTheYard.com