Tucked away near the golf course, a ways off from Thanksgiving Point's most visible buildings alongside Interstate 15 in northern Utah County, are 15 themed gardens.

There's a Monet garden and an Italian garden. The Parteere garden's close-cropped plants hug the ground. The Waterfall garden, as the name suggests, is dominated by nine waterfalls, the largest of which drops 65 feet off a 360-foot-tall rock face.

But, as Thanksgiving Point official Tracy Erdmann noted, the gardens "are just starting to be identified. We're in kind of a difficult location to get to."

Consequently, Thanksgiving Point is one of eight Utah tourist spots participating in two campaigns launched Tuesday as part of the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau's annual "Be a Tourist in Your Own Back Yard" program.

On May 6, decreed nationally as Tourism Appreciation Day, admission to the Lehi facility's gardens and Museum of Ancient Life has been reduced to $5 for adults and $3 for children 12 and under. Passes may be purchased online at http://www.visitsaltlake.com or at the Salt Palace Convention Center's visitor's center.

Similar prices will be charged at seven other attractions such as the Children's Museum of Utah, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Utah Museum of Natural History and Utah's Hogle Zoo.

"That unbelievable price gives people an incentive to find us and what we really are," said Erdmann.

The second component of the tourism package is the Visit Salt Lake Connect Pass.

Purchasers of one-, two- or three-day passes get access to the eight facilities, plus the Lion House Pantry Restaurant, Living Planet Aquarium, Clark Planetarium and This is the Place Heritage Park. This pass is designed to encourage locals and people making short-term visits to Salt Lake City to visit numerous Wasatch Front attractions over a one- to three-day period, often utilizing light rail to move between venues.

"Everyone knows the [$2 billion] travel industry is vital to the economy of Salt Lake County," said County Mayor Peter Corroon. "It's time for our locals to take a closer look at what we have . . . and become ambassadors for our great area."

Added Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau President Scott Beck: "You don't have to leave the Wasatch Front to have a truly amazing vacation, one that offers a great deal of bang for your buck. Salt Lake offers the sophisticated amenities of a major metropolitan destination combined with the Alpine ambiance of a mountain resort."

Discounted prices have brought Utahns out in large numbers for past "Be a Tourist in Your Own Back Yard" programs.

When the campaign was launched in 2003, free tickets were offered to five Salt Lake County destinations. The public response overwhelmed Hogle Zoo. More than 13,000 tickets for zoo visits were ordered online in one day. Even with a small fee for tickets last year, Beck said, 52,000 passes were downloaded for access to the dozen participating attractions.

Downtown Alliance Executive Director Bob Farrington likes the tourism initiative because he believes it can help show Salt Lakers how many cultural attractions are within fairly easily walking distance of public transportation. "You can take the train down and be a tourist. You can reach half the stuff from light rail."

And what the train doesn't reach, Le Bus can. That's why bus company officials Jennifer Phillips and Mike Petersen showed their support for the program by attending Wednesday's launch. Whether it's a family or corporate reunion at Snowbird, a sightseeing tour or a journey to Promontory Peninsula for a Golden Spike ceremony, "a lot of people want to do field trips somewhere," said Phillips. "We're the guys who get them there."

mikeg@sltrib.com

Pass pricing

Utah spots offering discounted admission fees ($5 for adults, $3 for children) on May 6 are:

* Utah's Hogle Zoo

* Utah Olympic Park

* Utah Museum of Natural History

* Utah Museum of Fine Arts

* Thanksgiving Point Gardens; Museum of Ancient Life

* Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort

* The Children's Museum of Utah

* Red Butte Garden