Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is throwing a 20th birthday party for its Visitor Center-Museum tomorrow, tying the event in with next week’s 3rd annual National Fossil Day.
Starting the celebration will be a talk at 1:30 by National Park Service Curator and Colorado State University instructor Greg McDonald titled “the Equus Files” Fossil Horses and the National Parks.”
That will be followed at 3:00 by the birthday party with birthday cake. Visitors being encouraged to share their memories of the park…especially those from before or just after the opening of the Visitor Center-Museum.
Before its construction, Agate’s visitor center was a couple mobile homes that housed a small seasonal museum.
The late retired U-S Senate Roman Hruska was the featured speaker for the building’s ribbon-cutting on November 22, 1992, and told the crowd the building culminated some 30 years of supporters trying to get a permanent facility.
Those efforts had taken a big leap forward in 1987 when Joanne Kyral was named superintendent of Scotts Bluff National Monument…which also included being superintendent of Agate.
She supported a permanent center, and soon the Friends of Agate Fossil Beds group was formed and began raising seed money for the project.
The group raised more than $350,000…which gave then-Congresswoman Virginia Smith the leverage to secure a $1-1/2-million dollar appropriation for the visitor center. Kyral, now retired and living in Colorado, says it was true community effort.
The Agate Fossil Beds visitor center-museum had no permanent exhibits when it opened…those were still a few years down the road…but Kyral says the strong community support led her boss to push hard for going ahead with just temporary exhibits.
Kyral says other improvements that quickly followed at Agate…including its paved roads and new staff housing…would not have been possible without the Visitor Center and the strong community support it received.
Ironically, Kyral didn’t get to enjoy the new building for long; it was announced at the ribbon-cutting that she had accepted an NPS promotion and soon transferred to the newly-established Mississippi National River and Recreation Area in Minnesota.
The 1992 ribbon-cutting saw the entire building wrapped with a red ribbon and the more than 200 people in attendance all share the cutting honors simultaneously.
The day also included Native American blessing ceremonies inside and outside the building led by Lakota spiritual leader John Around Him.
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