Free Admission for Junior Ranger Day

The SF Maritime National Historical Park will host a free

Junior Ranger Day event on Saturday, April 15, between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.,

geared toward children ages 5- 12 and their families. Normal

admission fees to board the historic ships will be waived on this day for all visitors.

Junior Ranger Day is a nationwide event (held at different

parks on different dates), which gives young visitors a chance to

explore national parks, learn skills from staff and park rangers

and earn prizes.

At SF Maritime National Historical Park, rangers and park

volunteers will set up Junior Ranger demonstration stations

and arts-and-craft tables along the Hyde Street Pier, and aboard

its historic ships, where youth can learn and practice nautical

skills.

Rangers and park volunteers will lead demonstrations and

teach crafts, including sea chantey sing-alongs, building

toy wooden boats, weaving rope and making necklaces using the

signal flag alphabet to spell visitors’ names. There will also be a

ranger-led tour of the 1886 square-rigged ship Balclutha,

and a “sailor tattoo” station (temporary tattoos).

The SF Maritime National Park Association’s staff will

work with visitors to create a team of sailors, who will lower a

boat into the water and then “heave ho!” to bring it back up.

Youth who complete all activities will receive a cardboard

park ranger hat, certificate and prize, and can participate in a

“swearing-in” ceremony at the end of the day.

Junior Ranger Day at the SF Maritime National Historical Park kicks off National Parks

Week (April 15-23), which provides free admission to all national

parks. Additional fee-free days for 2017 will be:

• Aug. 25 (birthday of the National Park Service),
• Sept. 30 (National Public Lands Day) and
• Nov. 11- 12 (Veterans Day weekend).

Fourth graders can get a “Every Kid in a Park” (EKIP)

pass, which makes them eligible to get a free annual pass to all

national parks and public lands (expires on Aug. 31, 2017).

For more information or to print out a voucher to bring to

Junior Ranger Day, go to the website at https://everykidinapark.

gov/how-it-works.

San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located

at the west end of Fisherman’s Wharf, at the corner

of Hyde and Jefferson streets. The park includes a fleet of historic

ships, visitor center, Maritime Museum (900 Beach

St.), Maritime Research Center (open by appointment at Fort

Mason Center), and the Aquatic Park Historic District.

For more information, call (415) 447-5000 or

visit the website at http://www.nps.gov.safr.