Hello Anza-Borrego Veterans:
 
This is to announce the celebration of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park’s 75th anniversary!
 
We are having a season full of events to celebrate the Park’s Diamond Anniversary.   We got wildfired out of the big Borrego Days Parade and the Huell Howser Gala in late October, but we are continuing with events with the local townsfolk, and carrying on celebrations for the public throughout the season.
 
I would like to invite you and any other Anza-Borrego veterans you may know to a BBQ luncheon at 2PM on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at the Vern Whitaker Horse Camp in Anza-Borrego.   We’ll get together for a reunion of old-timers and current employees (some of our current employees also qualify as old-timers) for an afternoon and night of fun, sharing old photographs, eating, and if you’d like to spend a night or two-----camping.
 
We’ve chosen Thursday the 31st so we can camp without impacting a busy weekend at the Horse Camp or Palm Canyon Campground.   We’ve taken the Horse Camp off reservations for Wednesday the 30th and Thursday the 31st and invite folks to camp there.   We have new restrooms and showers at the Whitaker Horse Camp, and plenty of room for camping with motorhomes and tents.   The group BBQ area will be set up with tables and hopefully the wind and weather will cooperate with us for a day and evening of sharing old times and accomplishments.    Anza-Borrego is 75 years old and you all share in the good times of this grand park.   We hope you can make the party.    We’ll also hold another BBQ for park employees and the people of Borrego Springs on April 26th, 2008 to bring the Park and local folks together in celebration of their Park.
 
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is now over 600,000 acres and holds much of the beauty and solitude you folks worked so hard to protect and defend.  The Anza-Borrego Foundation and Institute celebrates its 40th Anniversary this season, and the Foundation shares in the honor of this great year!  We have wonderful employees, past and present, and tremendous partners who have helped us be successful.   We sincerely hope you can join us to share in this 75th Anniversary celebration.  Bring your photo collections and any other articles or items you think may be of interest to our cultural resources folks and historians.   We will have a photo scanner available to make copies of your old photos or slides, which we hope to add to the Park collection.  Old maps, brochures, letters, documents, fossils, or artifacts will all be welcome for return to their home.
 
Feel free to email me if you need any further information.   Pass the word along to folks for whom we may not have had contact information.
 
Sincerely,
 
Mark Jorgensen
Superintendent
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park