National Park Week 2015 Encourages Everyone To Find Your Park

Date: March 31, 2015
Contact: John Joyce, 717-338-9114 Ext. 4415

Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site join parks, programs and partners across the country to encourage people to find their park and share their stories online at Find Your Park.com. Launched yesterday by the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation, Find Your Park is a public awareness and education campaign celebrating the milestone centennial anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016 and setting the stage for its second century of service.

Find Your Park invites the public to see that a national park can be more than a place -- it can be a feeling, a state of mind, or a sense of American pride. Beyond vast landscapes, the campaign highlights historical, urban, and cultural parks, as well as the National Park Service programs that protect, preserve and share nature, culture, and history in communities nationwide.

“The public is invited to hear more about “Find Your Park” at the April 16 meeting of the Gettysburg National Military Park Advisory Commission at 7 p.m. in the Ford Classroom of the Museum and Visitor Center,” said Ed W. Clark, park superintendent. “We will be talking about Centennial ideas to engage new visitors and we hope to get ideas from the public as well.”

“Find Your Park” is also the theme for this year’s National Park Week, April 18 – 26. For National Junior Ranger Day on April 18 younger visitors are invited to Gettysburg National Military Park and Eisenhower National Historic Site for special activities.

The Junior Ranger program at Gettysburg NMP is a family and group activity recommended for children aged 6 to 13. The park provides an activity booklet and participants are invited to spend two to four hours exploring the park’s Museum and Visitor Center, the Soldiers’ National Cemetery, the David Wills House, and other sites on the battlefield and in the town of Gettysburg.

Gettysburg activities on April 18 will include a special hands-on history cart in the park Museum and Visitor Center lobby from 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. where kids can try on clothes from the civil war period, and learn more about soldier life and life in the town of Gettysburg during the war. Participating in the cart program will earn the youngsters two of the required number of points to receive a Gettysburg Junior Ranger patch and certificate from Gettysburg NMP.

At Eisenhower NHS kids can practice radio procedure, invent code names for family members, or interrogate suspicious looking staff members. These are just some of the activities children ages 7-12 can do to earn their Junior Secret Service Agent badge and certificate. While Junior Secret Service Agents can qualify any day, on April 18, the Eisenhower National Historic Site will celebrate National Junior Ranger Day and award an additional National Junior Ranger Day patch.

Visit www.NationalParkWeek.org to learn more about how you can join parks, programs, and partners in celebrating National Park Week across the country.