Junior Ranger Day and Yuri's Night World Space Party to be Celebrated at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site

Junior Ranger Day at Fort Vancouver NHS invites youth to earn their Junior Ranger badges by completing fun, interactive activities.

Photo by NPS Volunteer Junelle Lawry

News Release Date: March 28, 2017

Contact: Bob Cromwell, Chief of Interpretation, 360-816-6253

Join us at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site on Saturday, April 15, as we celebrate both National Junior Ranger Day and the Yuri's Night World Space Party. Both events will be based at the Historic Hangar at Pearson Air Museum, and both are free to the public. 

Bilingual Junior Ranger Day Invites Youth to "Explore, Learn, and Protect"

National Junior Ranger Day celebrates the next generation of National Park stewards! Fort Vancouver National Historic Site invites hundreds of children each year to become Junior Rangers at this family-friendly event. Junior Rangers pledge to explore national parks, learn about our nation's land and heritage, and protect the valuable resources of the National Park Service. After completing Junior Ranger activities, children are awarded a Junior Ranger badge as a token of their educational accomplishment. Through a variety of children's activites and programs at the event, youth learn about national parks and the people who protect them. The Junior Ranger motto - "Explore, Learn, and Protect" - encourages youth to become engaged with the values of the National Park Service and involved in preserving the special places of the National Park System.

This year for National Junior Ranger Day, the park invites children and families to earn their Junior Ranger badge by completing fun, interactive activities with national park rangers. The event will be offered both in English and Spanish. Activities and Junior Ranger Activity Booklets will be offered in both languages, and bilingual, interactive storytelling sessions will be offered at 11 am and 2 pm. 

The Junior Ranger program is designed for children ages 6 to 12, but younger children can complete it with help. Older kids and adults are welcome to participate as well.

What: National Junior Ranger Day

Where: The reconstructed Fort Vancouver and the Historic Hangar at Pearson Air Museum, 1115 E Fifth Street, Vancouver, WA 98661

When: Saturday, April 15, 10 am to 3 pm. Bilingual storytelling sessions will take place at 11 am and 2 pm.

National Junior Ranger Day activities will also be held from 10 am to 3 pm at the McLoughlin House Unit of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, 713 Center Street, Oregon City, Oregon.
 

Yuri's Night World Space Party Celebrates Achievements in Space Exploration

On the evening of April 15, from 5 pm to 9 pm, Yuri's Night World Space Party will celebrate the 56th anniversary of Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's historic flight into space. Gagarin was the first human to travel into outer space, and Yuri's Night events across the globe have been commemorating this event for decades. 

Pearson Air Museum interprets and celebrates the history of Pearson Field, one of the nation's oldest airfields, and although Yuri Gagarin is not a direct part of this incredible history, there is an important tie between the two stories. Gagarin received his pilot's training at the Soviet Union's "First Chkalov Air Force Pilot's School" in the 1950s. The school was named after famed Russian aviator Valery Chkalov, who piloted the first trans-polar flight between Moscow, Russia to Pearson Field in 1937.

Space exploration and aviation-themed family-friendly activities will be offered at the Historic Hangar and, weather permitting, children can design and launch their own water-powered rockets until dusk. Tom Billings, the president of the Oregon L5 Society (a chapter of the National Space Society) will present a public lecture titled "NASA and New Space: Going Outward Together," at the Tex Rankin Theater at 6 pm. Weather permitting, the event will conclude with a star gazing tour of the park from 8 pm to 9 pm, led by a park ranger and certified star guide.

What: Yuri's Night World Space Party

Where: The Historic Hangar at Pearson Air Museum, 1115 E Fifth Street, Vancouver, WA 98661

When: Saturday, April 15, 5 pm to 9 pm. "NASA and New Space: Going Outward Together," presented by Tom Billings, will take place at 6 pm. Star gazing tour will be presented at 8 pm.

 

At Yuri's Night World Space Party, kids and families can create their own water-powered rockets to launch until dusk.

NPS Photo by Troy Wayrynen