Re-opening celebration set for Lyons Ferry State Park

Lyons Ferry State Park will host a grand re-opening celebration June 5 to mark the return of the state park after 13 years. The celebration will be 155 years to the day after Lyons Ferry was first operated. The ferry ceased operation in 1968.

The park closed in 2002 amid budget constraints that could not keep the park in operation, though it has been operated by the Port of Columbia since then as the Lyons Ferry Park and Lyons Ferry Marina. Many other state parks were also closed at the time.

An article on parks.wa.gov states the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have signed a lease that transfers the management of the park to the State Park system. It also states that the re-opening is due to the work of Senate Majority Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, to expand park service in Southeast Washington.

“After the state gave up the Lyons Ferry park more than a decade ago, I never lost hope that someday we could find the funding to re-open it — and someday turned out to be 2013,” Schoesler said in the article. “Seeing Lyons Ferry open again is not only personal, but it’s great news for our part of Washington and good news for those of us who value our state parks.”

The article also stated that Schoesler secured $600,000 in the Legislature’s 2013 capital budget to help bring the park to the standard.

Representatives from Whitman, Franklin, Walla Walla and Columbia counties have been working to plan the grand re-opening celebration.

Ed Garrettson, secretary for the Whitman County Historical Society, said he is looking forward to the park re-opening and visiting it.

“It’s a nice place to stop along the way in the middle of nowhere and a very desirable place to go spend a day on the river,” he said. “I’m looking forward to going down there myself. I don’t know the last time I’ve been there.”

The park, located on Highway 261, has a marina, swimming and picnic areas. At this time, there will be no overnight camping.

Festivities for the re-opening celebration will begin at 11 a.m. June 5 with speakers and the unveiling of the new Lyons Ferry State Park entrance sign. Following that, visitors will be allowed to explore the area.

Local high school musicians will perform, and state park rangers and staff will be available. There will also be historical displays and re-enactment activities, as well as a walking tour of the site of the historic ferry crossing. The concluding activities will begin at 2 p.m., with a special celebration of the 155th anniversary of the first Lyons Ferry crossing. Visitors can hear a re-read of Dr. Herman Deutsch’s 100th anniversary speech from 1960, as well as stories about Lyons Ferry, its operator and Mullen Road.

The event is free and open to any who wish to attend, though attendees are asked to bring their own lunches.