- Anasazi State Park Museum in Boulder educates visitors on Native American culture.
- Manager Jamie Skidmore emphasizes preserving history and supporting Indigenous communities through exhibits.
- Despite low official visitor numbers, actual attendance was 25,000 last year.
BOULDER, Garfield County — Visiting the Anasazi State Park Museum takes a little effort.
The park is located in Boulder, in Garfield County, between a long, winding canyon road and a long, winding mountain road.
But if visitors make the trip, park manager Jamie Skidmore said they will find a place dedicated to education and Native American culture.
"We are trying really hard to tell an accurate story," Skidmore said.
At the park, visitors can see the remains of an ancient village where people once lived, worked, and gathered as a community.
"We have an over 900-year-old Ancestral Puebloan village," Skidmore said.
Skidmore said about 200 people once lived at the site, which includes pit houses, storage areas, archeological remains, and a replica pueblo structure showing what the village may have looked like.
"This whole area back here actually is (a) village," she said while looking at the site.
The museum and archeological site help visitors learn about the Indigenous people who lived in the area and the communities connected to that history today.
"We want people to know that these communities are still here," she said. "They're still present. They still live on, and I feel like the work that we're doing in the museum shows that."
Skidmore said that the mission is why the park works with Indigenous communities, including in its exhibits and gift shop.
"Our gift shop, that's one of our missions, is to support local and Indigenous communities," Skidmore said.
The gift shop includes authentic items made by Indigenous communities throughout the Southwest.
Some of the money from items sold goes back to the Native artists.
"I feel like when we have things that are authentic Native American in our gift shop, it just really adds to the place but also supports our mission," she said.
According to Utah State Parks visitation numbers, Anasazi State Park Museum had about 900 visitors during the last fiscal year, making it the least-visited state park in Utah.
However, Skidmore said that the number does not tell the full story.
"Our numbers are based on entrance fees," she said. "And because the park went through this very prolonged remodel, we haven't been charging entrance fees."
While the museum was undergoing that major renovation, Skidmore said she didn't feel right about charging visitors.
"We want our patrons to pay for a finished product, and our product wasn't finished yet," she said.
Instead, the park counted visitors separately from official numbers.
Based on that count, Skidmore said the actual number of people who came through the park was much higher.
"Last year, we had about 25,000 visitors, which was actually one of our best years since I've been here," she said. "One thing about not charging an admission is everybody comes in. Everybody gets to see everything that you have to offer."
She said before the remodel, some families would see the admission fee and leave before visiting the museum or gift shop.
"When people are on vacation, they're also on a budget," she said.
Now, she feels more visitors are seeing the park and learning the history of the area and the people who lived here.
The park also offers a day-use area where visitors can take a break between Bryce Canyon National Park and Capitol Reef National Park.
"It's kind of a refuge for the local traveler. When you come off that windy mountain or you come up through the windy canyons, this is a great pit stop," she said.
That stop now includes a food truck called Small Canyon Kitchen, which serves Navajo tacos and other menu items at the park.
"This particular area is super remote and we don't have a whole lot of food options. By having the food truck here, it just provides a little bit for our visitors so they can get a meal here before they leave the park," she said.
Skidmore said the food truck also fits with the park's larger mission.
"This is a Native American-inspired park," she said. "This kind of fits along with that Native American inspiration."
For Skidmore, the park's purpose goes beyond visitation numbers.
It is about preserving history, supporting Indigenous communities, and helping visitors understand the people who lived in the area long before it became a state park.
"We care about them and we care about their history," she said.
Even if Anasazi State Park Museum shows up at the bottom of Utah's official visitation list, Skidmore believes the park is reaching people in ways that matter.
"We get a lot of people who come through and they're like, this is amazing," she said. "These places are so important to preserve and remember and not forget."
