What’s happening at N.C.State Parks in 2016? A Centennial Celebration! This year marks the 100th year of N.C. State Parks. All across our fine state, special events are planned in honor of this momentous occasion. The New Year kicked off with First Day Hikes. Participants from all over the state met at their local parks for ranger led hikes. A total of 3,469 hikers braved the elements to start the year off by getting outdoors.

The second event was the premier of the film “Here in this Place: A Celebration of North Carolina State Parks. The showing took place at the Daily Planet Theater in the NC Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh on Jan. 2. The 30-minute video was a virtual tour of all N.C. State Parks and was produced by Dave Cook, North District Superintendent. Cook was assisted by 28 videographers. They were selected from parks across the state to gather film footage in not only their park, but in other parks in and sometimes out of their districts. Rangers, office staff and volunteers were given the task of filming not only the beauty of our natural heritage, but also the people who visit state parks each year by the thousands. In the year 2015,

our state parks hosted between 17 and 18 million visitors, toppling the previous year’s visitation of 15.6 million. The film was narrated by Bill Leslie, well-known journalist and park supporter. Leslie, along with Joe Newberry from the newly combined Department of Natural and Cultural Resources also collaborated for the musical score.

The next big event was a statewide viewing party of “Saving the Best: North Carolina State Parks at 100.” It is a tribute to the men and women who work in the parks, park volunteers who give their time and energy, and the 17 million visitors who use our parks each year. The documentary was produced by filmmaker Tom Earnhardt and aired on UNC-TV on Jan. 27. It was also shown at the same time in parks all across the state, including Pettigrew.

The largest event taking place at Pettigrew will be our Fall Festival that will coincide with the parks birthday party. Plans are already underway for this event that will take place in October, 2016. As always, volunteers are needed to make the event a success. Anyone interested in volunteering at an event, or for any other reason are asked to contact Ranger Davis at 252-797-4475. For

further program and event information, go to www.ncparks.gov and find a park near you. All programs may not be listed as of yet, so be sure to check back frequently as new programs will appear. For photos of past events and current happenings, visit Friends of Pettigrew State Park on Facebook.