Grand opening of the Anza Trail Cultural History Park will take place on January 28

TUCSON, Ariz. - The new Anza Trail Cultural History Park will be formally unveiled at a public event on Jan. 28. The youth-designed park for people of all ages and abilities will serve as a public park as well as an outdoor classroom for the Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB). Features of the park include a plaza lined with native plants and an accessible pathway with interactive exhibits.

The National Park Service Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program (RTCA) will co-host the grand opening celebration with community partners who helped research, design, and build the innovative park along the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail (Anza Trail). The festivities will take place from 12 to 3 p.m. MST at 830 W Speedway Blvd. in Tucson. There will be performances by Ballet Folklorico and Gertie and the T.O. Boyz Band and local food from the San Xavier Co-Op – a community farm that is run by members of the Tohono O'odham Nation. A presentation, guest speakers, and ribbon cutting will take place at 1 p.m.

The Anza Trail follows the Santa Cruz River through the heart of Tucson. The new cultural history park provides an opportunity to learn about the history and landscapes of the area that the Anza expedition passed through nearly 250 years ago enroute to present-day San Francisco, California.

“This has been an exciting project to work on,” said Laura Bolyard, RTCA’s community project coordinator. “Partners worked with youth to create a well-designed space for community members of all ages and abilities to enjoy and identify creative and engaging ways for students and visitors to learn about and connect with the area's cultural history."

The project was initiated by the Anza Society International who applied for RTCA assistance with support of partners within Pima County, ASDB, and the Anza Trail. The Anza Trail, Tumacácori National Historical Park, and Anza Society International provided hands-on materials, educational programs, and field trips for every age group from kindergarten through high school. They brought historical period clothing, musical instruments, toys, tents, and food to help the students connect with the experiences of the children who traveled through the area long ago. Following the programs, students assisted in the design process by providing their thoughts and ideas.

NPS staff led the development of a multi-phased student and community design process for the park. Graduate students from the University of Arizona School of Landscape Architecture contributed design ideas related to accessibility, comfort, and plant choice. High school students from the Ironwood Tree Experience worked with the Barrio Hollywood Neighborhood Association to interview community members about their desires for the space. Working with Bolyard and students and staff from ASDB, the students from the Ironwood Tree Experience developed 3-D models of new exhibits to present to project leaders and the community. New Root Design, LLC worked with RTCA and Pima County to develop construction drawings that enabled the team’s best ideas to become reality.

“This period of engagement and conversation with the students will stay with me forever,” said Bolyard. “We learned so much from that process. For us, it wasn’t so much about teaching these students about the historic expedition, it was about learning from the students at ASDB what elements of the stories were the most interesting to them, how we could make concepts more accessible, and then working with the design team to come up with innovative creative methods to universally share those concepts for everyone when they visit the park.”

The collaborative project produced an inclusive youth-designed park experience with a series of community selected art installations, park improvements for safety and ease of accessibility, and innovative modes of interactive interpretation that use touch and other modalities to help convey information. There are sound machines and interactive hands-on exhibits accompanied by QR codes that lead to a park website with information about the exhibits and art in the new park. The entrance has a new welcoming arch and mural. A large ramada with picnic tables and a variety of seating are available. Over 50 native trees and 350 plants have been added. A quarter mile long accessible path is lined with a wayfinding cable and dotted with a series of exhibits that include samples of footprints and handprints of people, livestock and native animals that have passed through the space.

Major partner donors include the National Park Foundation, Anza Trail Foundation, Union Pacific Foundation, Anza Society International, Pima County departments, Parklands Foundation, M. Anderson Construction Corporation, and the Southwestern Mission Research Center.

RTCA supports locally led conservation and outdoor recreation projects across the United States. It assists communities in developing or restoring parks, conservation areas, rivers, and wildlife habitats, as well as creating outdoor recreation opportunities and programs that engage people in the outdoors. As a collaborative partner, RTCA strives to achieve successful project outcomes by engaging communities in the vision, planning and implementation of each project.

Parking for the event is available just west of the park at the southeast lot of ASDB. Additional public parking is at the Santa Cruz River Shop, south of Speedway. From there walk north on the Loop bike path to the park.