Parks & Recreation focused on the lives of various employees from the Parks Department in Pawnee, Indiana, and the series eventually gave its main characters a happy ending, all through changing their jobs. Parks & Rec followed the daily lives of perky bureaucrat Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and her friends and coworkers from the Parks Department. Leslie loved her job and working for the government, and as the series progressed, viewers saw the main characters’ development in many areas of their lives.
More often than not, the problems the characters were involved in were unrelated to the Parks Department, and the aspirations of all of them went beyond the walls of City Hall (some even hated working for the government, like Ron Swanson). Leslie, for example, wanted to be President of the United States, and Tom Haverford had a lot of business ideas in mind (though that doesn’t mean all of them were good), so it was only natural that the series allowed them to pursue other interests and jobs.
By the end of Parks & Recreation, the group viewers met in season 1 wasn’t working at City Hall anymore, and some even moved out of Pawnee – and that’s how the series gave them all a happy ending. Here’s what the main characters of Parks & Recreation ended up doing.
Leslie Knope
Leslie Knope went from Deputy Director of the Pawnee City Department of Parks and Recreation, to City Councilor, to Regional Director of National Park Service Midwest Region. By the end of season 7, and without counting the flashforwards, Leslie was Deputy Director of Operations at United States Department of Interior, and had to move to Washington D.C. A couple of years later, Leslie became Governor of Indiana, and it’s implied that she achieved her #1 dream and became President of the United States.
Ben Wyatt
When Ben Wyatt arrived to Pawnee, he was a state auditor (and former mayor of Partridge, Minnesota, but that didn’t go well), and went on to work on different jobs, such as campaign manager and strategist for Leslie’s City Council campaign, President of the Sweetums Charity Foundation, and City Manager of Pawnee. Ben ended up being a representative from Indiana for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Ron Swanson
After years as Director of the Pawnee City Parks and Recreation Department, Ron Swanson left and started his own company, called Very Good Building and Development. Ron ended up leaving the company, and a flashforward revealed Leslie offered him a job as Superintendent of National Park in Pawnee, which was the perfect job for him as he didn’t have to socialize at all.
April Ludgate
April Ludgate began as an intern at the Parks Department and went as far as working as Executive Director of Regional Affairs at National Park Service Midwest Region. She had trouble telling Leslie she didn’t want to work for the government anymore, and eventually found her ideal job at the American Service Foundation (with Leslie’s help, of course).
Tom Haverford
Tom Haverford loved to call himself an “entrepreneur”, even if most of his ideas failed or never even materialized. After Rent-A-Swag closed, Tom continued trying to make his ideas work, and the one that turned out to be very successful was Tom’s Bistro, Pawnee’s classiest restaurant. Tom’s Bistro was a big hit and became one of the top businesses in Pawnee, but it crashed when he attempted to expand. A look into the future revealed that he became a successful author by documenting his failures.
Andy Dwyer
Andy Dwyer did a bit of everything: he had a band (Mouse Rat, and other names), he was a shoe shiner, and at one point worked as weekend security guard at Pawnee City Hall. Although Mouse Rat did well, Andy truly reached success with his TV show Johnny Karate’s Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show. This project ended when he and April had to move to D.C. due to April’s job, and it’s unknown what he did after that, but he was very happy in the future as he finally became a father.
Donna Meagle
Donna Meagle worked at Permits Security at the Parks Department and backed some of Tom’s businesses. She ended up getting a real estate agent’s license and working at her realtor firm, called Regal Meagle Realty. A flashforward in the series finale revealed that, with the help of April, she started a non-profit to help her husband’s school, and appropriately named it “Teach Yo’ Self”.
Garry Gergich
Garry Gergich couldn’t catch a break throughout the series, and though he constantly spoke about retiring, such thing never happened. After years of working at the Parks Department, Garry became Interim Mayor of Pawnee after the death of Mayor Gunderson (Bill Murray), and a flashforward showed that he was elected mayor for several more terms.