Northwest Reel Life November - December 2023 Volume 3 Issue 3 - Flipbook - Page 11
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DID WASHINGTON STATE PARKS CANCEL THANKSGIVING? By John Kruse
I was reading the September
Washington State Parks
e-newsletter, which
covered the remaining
free days available for day
visitors to enter and park in
Washington’s State Parks
without a Discover Pass.
One of those dates is the
day after Thanksgiving:
Friday, November 24th. I
was curious why the State
Parks and Recreation
Commission chose to not
call it a Thanksgiving or
Day after Thanksgiving free
day and emailed the media
department to ask them why.
Having not received a
response right away, I began
researching this and found
the day after Thanksgiving
was first made a free day
to enter state parks in 2017
which was called Autumn
Free Day. It remained as
Autumn Day through 2021,
but in 2022 the free day
after Thanksgiving got a
new name, Native American
Heritage Day. However, in
2023, the late November free
entry day was once again
designated, Autumn Day.
Is this all about wokeness
and cancel culture towards
Thanksgiving? Did someone
object to it being called
Native American Heritage
Day?
I did receive a reply from
State Parks media staff
shortly before this column
went to press stating,
“Washington State Parks and
the departments of Fish and
Wildlife (WDFW) and Natural
Resources (DNR) have offered
a Discover Pass “free day”
the day after Thanksgiving
for several years. The free
day is not associated with
Thanksgiving. It is the last
free day of the year and
coincides with autumn and
school vacation for many
families.”
you just change the name to
something that won’t offend
(or inspire) anyone.
Of course, that’s just my
opinion. However, no matter
what it’s called, November
24th would be a good day
to get outside into one of
our state parks instead of
spending the day inside big
box retail stores or in front of
a computer all day shopping
online.
*This article does not necessarily
represent the opinion of Northwest
Reel Life magazine.
So perhaps I’m mistaken
about cancel culture, though
the reply doesn’t answer
the question as to why they
changed the name from
Native American Heritage
Day back to Autumn Day for
2023.
Maybe it’s just the way
things are done by our state
agencies in Washington
these days. A great example
is the Hungarian partridge,
nicknamed the “Hun”
for short, which saw its
name changed to the
completely non-offending
and uninspiring name, gray
partridge, a few years ago
by WDFW. Autumn Day
falls into the same category.
Afraid to offend any one
person or group of people,
NOV - DEC 2023 | 11