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Zion National Park » The U.S. Postal Service has given Zion National Park a stamp of recognition to coincide with the park's centennial celebration this year.
In a ceremony Sunday on the plaza outside the park's visitor center, the 79-cent international postage stamp, featuring a sandstone formation rising from surrounding slickrock, was unveiled before about 70 stamp collectors and visitors.
After the ceremony, people lined up in the center to purchase the stamp and have it canceled with a special cancellation mark designed for the ceremony.
In addition to the postage stamp, the state's Department of Motor Vehicles is offering a special commemorative license plate to Utah motorists that features Zion's Great White Throne formation and the Virgin River.
Fees from purchasing the special plates go to the Zion National Park Foundation, a nonprofit park partner, to support visitor programs, resource management projects and facilities within the park.
The stamp issued Sunday and available at post offices now, represents a century of sanctuary, said Jock Whitworth, superintendent of the park.
"It is one of the most loved and visited parks with its towering cliffs and canyons," said Whitworth. "It's a great honor."
Whitworth said the stamp is the latest in a string of events commemorating the park that was established in 1909 as Mukuntuweap National Monument before being
The 229-square-mile park, with 120 miles of hiking trails, makes it the seventh most popular park in the country with 2.7 million annual visitors.
The main event for the centennial celebration is scheduled for July 31.
Darin Bird, deputy director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, represented Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. at the unveiling.
"The [stamp] is a fitting tribute to the park that uplifts us physically, spiritually and emotionally," read Bird from remarks prepared by the governor.
Ken McArthur, district manager of the U.S. Postal Service in Salt Lake City, told the crowd that the stamp was one of 30 to 40 picked by a 13-member advisory council to be issued this year from more than 50,000 requests.
The image on the stamp was taken from a photograph captured by Richard Cummins of Temecula, Calif.
McArthur said the stamp is good for single-ounce postage sent to Mexico or anywhere in the United States.
Also on Sunday in Wyoming, a 98-cent international stamp featuring Grand Teton National Park was issued, McArthur said.
He said the Zion stamp is the second time the park has been featured on a stamp, with the first one being on an 8-cent stamp issued in 1934.
Other stamps commemorating Utah parks have included Delicate Arch, in Arches National Park, two for Bryce Canyon National Park, with one featuring the Wall of Windows and the other hoodoo spires and Rainbow Bridge in Rainbow Bridge National Monument.
McArthur said 40 million of the new Zion stamps have been printed and will spread recognition of the park around the world.
Eugene Walker, a collector, who works for the postal distribution center in San Bernardino, Calif., traveled to Zion to get a first-day cancellation and plans to travel to Wyoming to get the Teton stamp Monday.
"I try to get to as many events as I can," said Walker, who likes the red sandstone colors of the Zion stamp. "I was in San Diego when they issued the USS Midway-Bob Hope stamp and at Fox Studios when the Simpsons stamp was issued."
Pat Saraceno, from Simi Valley, Calif., got up early Sunday to attend the ceremony with her 3-year-old son, Paul.
"This is going to be awesome someday for him," she said. "This his first trip ever. So its huge. We had no idea this was happening until we arrived [Saturday.]"
All the ceremony and hype was a bit lost on Paul, who still got his own stamp canceled on a program.
When asked if he collects stamps, the boy just shook his head.
"No," he said. "I collect toys."
