The 2019 Volunteer Appreciation Day was held on Saturday, June 1.  Volunteers, Board members, Park staff, and guest presenter Melissa Parker attended.  Thea Platz, President of the Friends, welcomed everyone and then introduced members of the Board and the Park Superintendents. Board members present briefly introduced themselves and indicated their areas of interest.  Park Superintendent Barrett Durst and Assistant Park Superintendent Joel Parker then introduced Park staff, including Park Interpreter Holly Platz.  Each spoke a few words about their particular responsibilities.   Holly Platz outlined a number of areas where the Park needs volunteers.

Joel next introduced Melissa Parker, who presented on Texas paddling trail history as well as introducing the newest paddling trail, ours at Guadalupe River State Park, to be officially opened later in the day.

While hot dogs were grilled by Will Platz and tables set up for lunch, Barrett and Joel took interested parties to inspect the new Cedar Sage Campground bathrooms, due to open later in the summer.   

After lunch, everyone moved down to the Day-Use Area, where Joel and Melissa unveiled the new Guadalupe River State Park paddling trail map.  You can view a very short video of the unveiling following the gallery below. 

Two kayaks were then unloaded from a Park truck and launched in the River, Holly Platz in one and another staff member, Patricia Lozano, in the other.  With help from a Park visitor fortuitously wading in the shallows nearby, they succeeded in stretching a ribbon across the Guadalupe River.  After some fancy maneuvering upstream, Holly turned back downstream and charged the ribbon with scissors drawn.  The results of her charge can be viewed in the video following the gallery below.