National Park Week 2011

Date: April 15, 2011
Contact: Lee Wilder, [phone]x14

Come celebrate National Park Week at your national park, San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. Two free activities are being offered on Saturday, April 23, at Mission San José, one for children and one for adults. There is also a new exhibit on display for the month of April in the visitor center.

History and Genealogy Day will be held April 23 from 10am to 2pm at Mission San José. Various organizations including the Genealogy Department of the San Antonio Public Library, the San Antonio Genealogical and Historical Society, and Casa Navarro Historic Site will join families who trace their ancestry to the missions in sharing information about the Spanish missions. Booths will be located in the granary directly across from San José Church. If your family or organization is interested in having its own booth, it's not too late! Contact us at 210-534-8875 x243.

Children ages 5-12 have the opportunity to become Junior Rangers from 9am-5pm. Pick up the free Junior Ranger book at the visitor center, complete the activities, and tour the mission with your family. Then return to the visitor center to be sworn in and receive your badge. There is even a display where you can have your picture taken in a Junior Ranger outfit!

A temporary exhibit, Global Warming is Here, is set up in the visitor center lobby. Global warming and climate change is a real concern for natural and cultural areas throughout the National Park Service, including the San Antonio Missions. This exhibit will help clarify what global warming is, how it is affecting the parks and what the parks are doing to help mitigate damage, and what you can do in your home.

For more information on this event or about San Antonio Missions National Historical Park and other programs presented, please call [phone].

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park was established in 1978 to preserve, restore, and interpret the Spanish colonial missions of San Antonio, which represent the largest concentration of cultural resources from the Spanish colonial period in the United States. For more information about the National Park Service and San Antonio Missions National Historical Park please visit our web site at www.nps.gov/saan. For more information about our friends group, Los Compadres de San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, visit www.loscompadres.org.

 -NPS-