San Francisco, California - San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park will host a free Junior Ranger Day event on Sunday, April 17th, between 10 AM and 4 PM, geared toward children ages 5-12 and their families. Normal admission fees to board our historic ships will be waived on this day for all visitors.

Junior Ranger Day is a nationwide event (held at different parks on different dates) that gives young visitors a chance to explore their national parks, learn skills from staff and park rangers, and earn prizes. At San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park on April 17th, rangers will set up demonstration stations and arts-and-craft tables for "junior rangers" along Hyde Street Pier, in our Maritime Museum, and aboard our historic ships, where kids can learn and practice nautical skills.

Rangers and park volunteers will lead demonstrations and crafts including caulking, knot tying, building toy wooden boats, weaving rope, and making necklaces using the signal flag alphabet. With the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association's "Age of Sail" staff, young visitors will also learn to work as a team of sailors and lower a boat into the water and then "heave ho!" to bring it back up. Simultaneously at the Maritime Museum (900 Beach Street), kids can try their hand at scrimshaw and fancywork, follow a scavenger hunt, and draw their own figurehead. Teens from the San Francisco Sea Scout program will also be on hand to teach knot tying and assist with crafts. 

Children who complete all activities will receive a certificate and a prize at the end of the day. The first 15 kids who arrive at the event will also get a free copy of the sea-faring fantasy adventure novel for young adults, "The Defiant," by M. Quint, published by McSweeney's Press. 

Junior Ranger Day at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park kicks off National Park Week (April 16-24), a week of free admission days in all national parks across the country. Additional fee-free days for 2016 will be August 25-28 (Centennial of the National Park Service), September 24 (National Public Lands Day), and November 11 (Veterans Day). 

San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located at the west end of Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, at the corner of Hyde and Jefferson. The park includes a magnificent fleet of historic ships, a Visitor Center, the Maritime Museum (900 Beach Street), Maritime Research Center (open by appointment in Fort Mason Center), and the Aquatic Park Historic District. For more information, please call 415-447-5000 or visit the park's website http://www.nps.gov.safr .