Virtual library event to discuss HS National Park’s centennial
Hot Springs National Park’s centennial will be marked in 2021, and HSNP Ranger Ashley Waymouth will speak with the Garland County Library Tuesday on the celebratory events planned throughout the year for the community.
Waymouth will also discuss the history of how the national park came to be 100 years ago. The virtual event can be watched live at 6 p.m. Tuesday on the library’s Facebook page.
“I really want people to put things on their calendar and just really get excited and stoked out about our 100th anniversary,” Waymouth said. “We’ve been planning all year long, and it seems like with every new bit of information we receive about COVID, we have to make adjustments. So all of our plans we say are subject to change, so we are planning contingencies in the event we have to either not have an in-person event, or if we have to focus mostly on controlled engagement.”
She said most events will be “outdoor, interactive (and) family focused.”
Waymouth will also introduce the centennial’s official logo during her meeting with the library. By the end of the year, she said people can expect to see the logo decorating downtown.
“Ranger Waymouth has made it clear while planning this event how passionate she is to be a national park ranger, and how excited she is to present to the public about the past, present, and future of Hot Springs National Park,” Paul Kagebein, the library’s adult services programmer, said in a news release.
“Before the concept of a national park as we know it existed, ‘ Hot Springs Reservation’ was acknowledged by the U.S. Congress as early as 1832 as an area to be preserved for future recreation,” the release said. “It was officially made a national park on March 4th, 1921, hence the upcoming centennial. Long before and long after that date, however, countless visitors came to Hot Springs to experience the
legendary hot spring waters, which were believed to possess healing abilities.”
Hot Springs’ original status as a “national wonder and curiosity” helped it grow into a city with appeal and attractions beyond its namesake, the release said.