Community Spotlight: Itasca State Park Has Rich History Of Educational Programs

Established in 1891, Itasca is the oldest state park in Minnesota. Over its lifetime, the park has grown into quite the attraction.

While Itasca State Park hosts many activates all year round, the summer time has brought an influx of visitors looking to spend time in the great outdoors. But some are taking a break and headed inside to check out the Jacob V. Brower Visitor Center. It’s here that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has built an interactive learning experience. It’s been years since Amanda Thompson has been back to the park. Now traveling with her husband and three boys, she was happy to see so much on display.

Even though Alden Hardwick returns to the area year after year, he continues to find new facts about the park. He was particularly interested in finding about more about the Civilian Conservation Core.

He says the building provides a great opportunity to see how things have changed over time. The park provides many other ways for people to learn more including educational programing. Staff from the International Wolf Center dropped by to teach about the world of wolves. Turi Garvey says shes never learned about them in school and was excited to do so today.

Soren Garvey was happy to learn more about them and cleared up some misconceptions.

There are plenty of more programs running all summer long. Lakeland News frequently puts the information on our community calendar. For a current listing and more information, you can also go to the State Park Calendar page here.