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Oh, Ranger! Story Tour seeks stories of the national park visitor experience at Gettysburg
Gettysburg, Pa. (May 25, 2010) — Visitors to Gettysburg National Military Park are invited to share their park experiences with representatives from the American Park Network’s Oh, Ranger! Story Tour team June 3 – 5 at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Center.
Four ambassadors from the Oh, Ranger! Story Tour team will be stationed in the main lobby of the Museum and Visitor Center from approximately 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. from Thursday, June 3 – Saturday, June 5 to record stories of visitors’ experiences at Gettysburg National Military Park. The Gettysburg visit is part of a national initiative to collect stories to showcase the breadth and relevance of America’s national parks, which will become increasingly of interest as the system of parks approaches its 100th anniversary in 2016. Everyone is welcome to participate, from visitors and volunteers, to park partners and National Park Service employees.
Stories collected by the Oh, Ranger! Story Team will be available for viewing online at OhRanger.com/StoryTour.
“The Gettysburg Foundation is pleased to have the Oh, Ranger! Story Tour team visit, and we are proud that staff and visitors have an opportunity to share their experiences in the Gettysburg parks,” said Barbara J. Finfrock, vice chair of the board of directors for the Gettysburg Foundation.
“Our goal is to help preserve the diverse stories of our national parks,” said Mark Saferstein, publisher and editor-in-chief of the American Park Network and OhRanger.com. “We selected Gettysburg because it’s one of our premier national military parks, providing a unique learning opportunity about the development of our nation.”
Saferstein said that Gettysburg presents visitors with a distinctly different experience than a wilderness park or an urban park, highlighting the amazing diversity offered by the all-inclusive system of national parks. “Our parks offer something for everyone, which is sure to be embodied in these stories. I can’t wait to hear them all,” he said.
American Park Network is the world’s leading publisher of national and state park visitor guides. The organization’s Oh, Ranger! guides have provided information to millions of park visitors for more than 25 years.
The Oh, Ranger! Story Tour is crisscrossing America, visiting a diverse range of National Park Service sites throughout the summer. The National Park Conservation Association (NPCA) is the non-profit beneficiary of the Oh, Ranger! Story Tour. For each story posted, Hyundai, the tour sponsor, will donate $25 to NPCA, based on a minimum first-year commitment of $100,000. The funds will be used to help support NPCA’s clean air and climate change programs that benefit our national parks. To find additional tour locations, or to upload your favorite national park stories, visit OhRanger.com/StoryTour.
In addition to the Oh, Ranger! Story Tour, visitors to Gettysburg National Military Park this summer are also invited to the Cyclorama, Film and Museum Experience at the park’s Museum and Visitor Center, featuring the massive Cyclorama painting —the nation’s largest painting. The experience also includes the Morgan Freeman-narrated film A New Birth of Freedom, and the Gettysburg Museum of the American Civil War.
Advance tickets for the Cyclorama, Film and Museum Experience may be purchased online at www.gettysburgfoundation.org or by calling toll-free 877-874-2478.
The Gettysburg Foundation is a private, non-profit educational organization working in partnership with the National Park Service to enhance preservation and understanding of the heritage and lasting significance of Gettysburg. The Foundation raised funds for and now operates the Museum and Visitor Center at Gettysburg National Military Park. In addition to operating the Museum and Visitor Center, the Foundation has a broad preservation mission that includes land, monument and artifact preservation and battlefield rehabilitation — all in support of the National Park Service’s goals at Gettysburg.
For information about the Foundation, about visiting Gettysburg, or how you can become a part of the history of Gettysburg through your contribution, visit www.gettysburgfoundation.org or call 877-874-2478 or the administrative offices at 717-338-1243.
For more information about the Oh, Ranger! Story Tour, please contact Mark Saferstein via e-mail at mark@americanparknetwork.com or call 212-581-3380.