PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Marc Gendron
O: 559.326.2037 /C: 559.824.8360
marcg@marcompr.com
Yosemite Highway Dedicated to John Muir
Highway 132 in Mariposa and Tuolumne Counties named for famed preservationist
Mariposa, Ca, April 26, 2010 -- The boards of supervisors in both Mariposa and Tuolumne counties have designated Highway 132 from Coulterville to Highway 120, a major route into Yosemite National Park, as the John Muir Highway. The highway generally follows the path that the world renowned explorer and preservationist took on an early journey into Yosemite. The scenic region is chronicled in Muir’s celebrated book, My First Summer in the Sierra.
The two counties and a host of dignitaries and officials will commemorate the dedication on Saturday, June 5, 2010 in Coulterville, with a formal dedication ceremony beginning at 11 a.m. Muir’s great grandson, Bill Hanna, will be the keynote speaker at the event. “It is an honor and fitting tribute to my great grandfather,” Hanna said. “The route continues to be filled with the picturesque beauty he first saw nearly 100 years ago.”
A ribbon cutting ceremony will follow the presentations along with a formal dedication ceremony with Mariposa County Supervisor Lyle Turpin, Tuolumne County Supervisor John Gray and Bill Hanna cutting the ribbon at the intersection of highways 132 and 49. A motorcade featuring vintage old cars will then proceed up the new John Muir Highway.
“The dedication ceremony will include a number of special presentations including a reading by Lee Stetson who does a wonderful impersonation of John Muir,” said Ken Pulvino, who has been instrumental in moving the highway naming forward. Stetson was featured in the Ken Burn’s Public Television series on the national parks. Pulvino noted that other speakers will include a presentation on geo-tourism by Peter and Donna Thomas who walked the Muir route into Yosemite in 2006 and published a book about their journey.
Pulvino has been working with the Northern Mariposa County History Center to establish a permanent John Muir collection. A tour of the center will be available both prior to the dedication ceremony and afterwards. Pulvino will be presenting a donation to the center to launch the exhibit.
In addition to the history center tours, a variety of independent community events are scheduled to occur on the same day along the John Muir Highway. There will be a complimentary breakfast hosted by the Coulterville Community Club between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. in Coulterville preceding the dedication ceremony. A Vietnam Moving Wall Memorial fund raising lunch will be held at Greely Hill from noon until 4 p.m. At 2:00 p.m. Groveland and the Yosemite Chamber of Commerce will hold another ribbon cutting ceremony at the eastern end of the new John Muir Highway. There will be wagon rides, live music and John Muir-friendly vendors at the Big Creek Meadow Ranch and a gourmet picnic from 4 to 6 p.m.
Coulterville will be hosting a fundraising dinner at the Old School House and a Mark Twain and Bret Harte performance at the Odd Fellows Hall. A musical produced by the Yosemite Playhouse about the life of John Muir entitled “The Wild Adventures of John Muir” opens that evening at the Big Creek Meadow Ranch at the Groveland end.
For more information, interested persons should call: the Coulterville Visitors Center at 209.878.3074 or the Yosemite Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center at 209.962-0429.
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