Vail Memorial Park- Policies, Facts and Information

Vail Memorial Park is open sunrise to sunset daily. The public is welcome to visit and stay as long as they like.

Memorial services at the park may be arranged by contacting the Vail Memorial Park office at 970-476-3400. There are additional charges for memorial services.

Please be a responsible pet owner when your dog is enjoying the park with you. The Town of Vail does have a leash law so please keep your pet leashed while visiting the park.

The Vail Memorial Park is unique in many ways. The 11 acres of land is designated open space and is leased from the Town of Vail for 99 years.

Historically, the area was used as a sheep pasture. The Vail Memorial Park Foundation will allow the area to continue to return to its pre 1880’s state. The Memorial Park will strive to preserve and improve upon the natural aspects of the park. A portion of the area is designated wetlands and that creates visible seasonal changes especially with the spring snow melt. The park is designed to allow some of that water to flow under the two bridges in the park in an old natural streambed. As beavers come and go they create new channels and divert water into new areas. Channels along Gore Creek divert water into the wetlands and help to restore the meadow and its varied plant species. Areas that do not receive adequate water are arid. This small parcel contains a huge variety of natural vegetation: sage, willows, pines, spruces, aspens, a few cottonwoods, wildflowers, shrubs and native grasses. We work to eliminate invasive, introduced plants such as thistles.

The stones available for inscription have been especially selected for their hardness and fine grained qualities. They will hold an inscription much longer than local softer stones. As each individual memorialized in the park is unique, so is each stone. The size, shape, stratification, coloration, cracks and sharp corners give each rock a specific personality and different challenges when they are engraved. Engraving can not be done when the temperature is below 50 degrees or from October to June because of the inaccessibility or cold. Every engraving is unique. Some inscriptions or letters are more deeply incised and clearer than others. Smaller letters may have the center “blown out” in the engraving process. Regardless of the challenges, every effort is made to provide the best inscription possible. Funds set aside for the perpetual care of the park may be used to maintain reasonable legibility and touch ups over time.

Memorial inscriptions must be fully paid for before inscriptions can be placed on a stone. Only the Vail Memorial Park can arrange for inscriptions or stone placement. Once a stone has been selected, payment must be received within two weeks of invoicing to confirm a selection. All sales are final. The right to inscribe may not be resold. Engraved stones must have a name associated with the engraving.

The park has been designed to embrace the natural environment and provide a memorial that is in pace with the natural surroundings. Therefore, getting to the park in the winter and spring will require snowshoes or cross country skis and an intrepid spirit from approximately Thanksgiving until late April as nothing is plowed or shoveled in the winter months. Snow is allowed to remain on and around memorials. This does not preclude visits in the winter by using the recreation path or the groomed cross-country track. Private services may be held but Vail Memorial Park will provide no services during the snow season.

The park is open space for all to enjoy in a respectful way throughout the changing seasons. A recreational path runs along the hillside and the western boundary. The park walkways are used by the public to view the flowers and wildlife or exercise or rest in a most peaceful, beautiful setting. Foxes, bears and a variety of small critters have been seen in the park as well as mountain goats on the cliff band above the park.

Vail Memorial Park will not share personal information with any other organization or entity. Only inscriptions will become public information.