Rocky Mountain National Park’s 100th Anniversary Celebration

Rocky Mountain National Park’s yearlong centennial celebration kicked off in September, but if you’re a stickler for details, today marks the park’s actual anniversary: One hundred years ago today, President Woodrow Wilson signed the bill designating national-park status to the area. In celebration, the park and the nearby towns of...

By Susan Froyd

January 22, 2015

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Rocky Mountain National Park’s yearlong centennial celebration kicked off in September, but if you’re a stickler for details, today marks the park’s actual anniversary: One hundred years ago today, President Woodrow Wilson signed the bill designating national-park status to the area. In celebration, the park and the nearby towns of Estes Park and Grand Lake will host Rocky Mountain National Park’s 100th Anniversary Party and other events today for intrepid winter visitors to the high country.

Cake will be served (while it lasts) and speechifying will be made, beginning at noon at the park’s Beaver Meadows Visitor Center; afterward, overnight visitors can hightail it over to the Grand Lake Community House for a 5:30 p.m. reception and screening of Rocky Mountain National Park: Wilderness, Wildlife, Wonder, a new film documenting the efforts of Estes Park denizen Enos Mills and others who originally lobbied for the creation of a national park in Colorado. Or go the opposite way to the Estes Park Museum for “Zoomin’ with Zumie,” a slide show and lecture about local climbing legend Clerin “Zumie” Zumwalt at 7 p.m.

Can’t make it on a Monday? Anniversary events at the park and its environs — from nature talks and snowshoe walks to history programs and concerts — continue through September. For more information, go to nps.gov/romo/planyourvisit/events.htm.
Mon., Jan. 26, 2015

Susan Froyd started writing for Westword as the "Thrills" editor in 1992 and never quite left the fold. These days she still freelances for the paper in addition to walking her dogs, enjoying cheap ethnic food and reading voraciously. Sometimes she writes poetry.

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