Zion National Park Foundation’s Annual Spring Event Fundraiser… “National Parks Adventure”

The Zion National Park Foundation will host special showings of a new Imax 3D film celebrating the Centennial of the National Park Service. The April 16 event starts at 3:00 p.m. on the plaza of the Zion Canyon Giant Screen Theatre in Springdale. An array of interactive exhibits and activities relating to the area’s national parks and monuments will be open to the public with exciting opportunities for children and adults to connect more closely with these special places in our backyard. Special showings of the new Imax 3D film, “National Parks Adventure,” will be at 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., and the Zion Canyon Giant Screen Theatre will donate ticket proceeds to the Zion National Park Foundation as a fundraiser for the park.

“This is a really fun way to usher in the 2016 Centennial of the National Park Service,” said Jill Burt, director of operations and development for the Foundation. “It’s also the kickoff for National Parks Week, and it will be a fee-free day in the park.” She said the Foundation holds a spring fundraiser for the park every year and this year it worked out perfectly to partner with the Zion Canyon Giant Screen Theatre, the Utah Office of Tourism, the park’s concessionaire Xanterra and its Zion National Park Lodge, as well as the administration of Zion National Park, to create an afternoon of fun and learning about the legacy of our national parks.

“We’re especially appreciative of the folks at the Zion Canyon Giant Screen Theatre who have so generously agreed to donate the ticket sales from both showings to the fundraising efforts of the Foundation,” Burt said. “It’s a wonderful gesture and the kind of philanthropy that helps fund important projects in the park that otherwise would not be funded.”

Burt said everyone is invited to come and enjoy all the free activities and entertainment. “At 4:00 we’ll have the first special showing of the film in the Zion Canyon Giant Screen Theatre, and tickets are $10,” she said. “Or at 6:00, for a ticket of $20, people can enjoy hors d’ oeuvres and a reception (beginning at 5:00 pm) with Zion National Park Superintendent Jeff Bradybaugh before watching a special screening of the film introduced by local dignitaries.” The new film, narrated by Robert Redford, and commissioned specifically to celebrate 100 years of the National Park Service, is the latest production of MacGillivray Freeman, a celebrated creator of large screen 3D films. “It’s a breathtaking and inspiring experience to watch,” Burt said.

According to Lyman Hafen, executive director of the Zion National Park Foundation, the event is a fitting way to bring in the Centennial year of the National Park Service. “All of us here in southwestern Utah are the beneficiaries of the amazing parks that surround us, not only for their economic benefit to our communities, but for the personal joy and renewal they provide us.” Hafen said he could think of no better way to celebrate the good fortune of being surrounded by such beauty than to come and enjoy the afternoon of festivities at the Zion Canyon Giant Screen Theatre on April 16, and in the process help raise funds to ensure the future of these beloved places.

For questions or more information please call 435-772-3264.