museums&MORE Fall 2016

Editor’s Letter: National Park Service turns 100 By Zeke Jennings

This is a special year for the U.S. National Park Service, as it celebrated its 100^th birthday on Aug. 25. The centennial celebration included free admission to all 412 national parks during the final weekend of August, as well as festivals, various other events and ongoing promotions.

Many people, myself included, tend to think of national parks as large recreational areas — such as Yosemite and Yellowstone, to name a couple of popular ones — but those areas only account for a small percentage of sites the NPS oversees and maintains. The list also includes memorials, monuments, battlefields, seaways, lakeshores and many others.

In all, the NPS has about 22,000 full- and part-time employees, not to mention the more than 200,000 people who volunteer each year and employees of private companies the park service contracts with to maintain some of its lodging and retail locations. It takes a lot of people to service than 275 million visitors national parks see each year, many of which are in need of food, camping supplies and clothing, as well as all those great mementos and souvenirs.

To honor the National Park Service’s centennial birthday, we have dedicated parts of our fall issue to it. Our coverage includes a look at the 10 most-visited national parks in the U.S. and products, as well as a feature on the Cedar Tree Gift Shop at Glacier National Park. We hope you enjoy them.

So, congratulations on your big birthday, National Park Service. Museums & More salutes and thanks you!

— Zeke Jennings joined Museums & More in December 2014 as the managing editor. In addition to covering retail, he has covered art, business, food and dining, entertainment and sports. His previous stops include MLive Media Group/Jackson (Michigan) Citizen Patriot and the Pioneer in Big Rapids, Michigan. Email Zeke at [email protected]. 

Zeke Jennings