Active and retired military personnel can drive into San Tan Mountain Regional Park and the rest of Maricopa County's regional parks without paying on Veterans Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11.
Maricopa County Parks and Recreation announced Wednesday that it will waive the $10 day-use entry fee it charges per vehicle for those visitors that day. The county's Board of Supervisors set aside Veterans Day as Military Service Appreciation Day at the regional parks in a 2005 proclamation, and the free entry has been offered each year since.
"Offering complimentary entry to our regional parks is one small way Maricopa County can say thank you to our veterans and their families," board Chair Kate Brophy McGee said in the county's announcement. Vice Chair Debbie Lesko, whose district includes Luke Air Force Base, said she hoped military members and veterans would use the day to spend time with family and friends.
The park next door
San Tan Mountain Regional Park is listed at 6533 W. Phillips Road in Queen Creek and covers more than 10,000 acres of lower Sonoran Desert, with elevations running from about 1,400 feet to above 2,500 feet, according to the county parks department.
It is one of the parks in a county system that spans more than 120,000 acres, which the county counts among the largest regional park systems in the country.
