Centennial Celebration Honors Heritage & Culture of Arizona Strip Settlers

by Rachel Tueller Kcsg Television

Published – 09/08/11 – 03:49 PM

(St. George, UT) – The BLM Arizona Strip District, Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument, National Park Service, and Dixie/Arizona Strip Interpretive Association will host “Back to School Days” at Mount Trumbull Schoolhouse Festival from 11:00AM to 4:00PM on Saturday, September 17, 2011. (BLM Map)

The historic schoolhouse is located about 60-miles southeast of St. George, Utah on the Arizona Strip where the free event will celebrate the rich history associated with the lifestyle, culture, and traditional education which residents once pursued in this remote area. For the first time since the last class was taught in 1968, the Mount Trumbull alumni will have the opportunity to take part in one final class held in the historic schoolhouse and taught by former Mt. Trumbull Schoolhouse educator Sara “Sally” Bundy.

The session will commemorate 100 years of pioneer life on the Arizona Strip and mark the statewide centennial celebration of the National Landscapes Conservation System.

Activities include sharing stories about life and earning an education on the Arizona Strip will include a quilting demonstration by the Utah Historical Society, roping demonstrations by the Bundy family, and an old-time musical instrument jam session. Sally Bundy also will teach the “Virginia Reel,” an era square dance which was an activity in which some students participated during recess and lunch breaks.

The Dixie Arizona Strip Interpretive Association (D/ASIA) is sponsoring a Dutch oven lunch available for purchase through pre-registration only and other vendors will be on site. D/ASIA, is a nonprofit organization that works in partnership with the Arizona Strip BLM, Forest Service and National Park Service, to preserve and share the history and culture of the Arizona Strip region.

The “Strip” is a storied place where homesteaders, cowboys, prospectors and fugitives lived isolated lives in a “Land Apart,” a place that has changed little in the past hundred years. D/ASIA, governed by a volunteer board of directors, perpetuates itself through retail sales and fundraising events such as the Dutch oven luncheon, which in turn support interpretive, educational, and stewardship projects and programs that benefit the public and further public land management agency missions.

Arizona BLM Deputy State Director David Hughes, and Arizona Strip District Manager Scott Florence, will present opening remarks at the event. Scheduled speakers also include historian and author, Lyman Hafen, and cowboy poet Mark Kerr.

Read more: KCSG Television – Centennial Celebration Honors Heritage Culture of Arizona Strip Settlers