Pioneer Park in St. George is aptly named. I feel that it is appropriate to give credit to the people who paved the way towards completely ruining an irreplaceable geographic landmark by naming it after them. Without their intrusion, the area wouldn’t be in its current hazardous and despoiled condition.
Pioneer Park is part of the Red Rock Conservation Area. It’s where the obnoxious “DIXIE” graffito hovers over St. George like a sociocultural zit that refuses to be popped. For some reason, when legitimate street artists decorate a brick wall or a train car, it’s a crime. Yet when state-sanctioned vandalism that glorifies the oligarchy occurs, its tradition.
Personally, I would rather look up at the Sugarloaf and see “blow me” in huge white lettering. In fact, I can think of only few things more embarrassing about St. George that that single monument to poor taste, proudly displayed for every baffled tourist to ponder for a lifetime.
However, that particular blemish really isn’t that big a deal at all compared to what has happened to the rest of Pioneer Park. The graffito could be easily washed away. And while it’s tacky, juvenile, and offensive, it’s not going to send anyone to the emergency room.
What has happened to the rest Pioneer Park, on the other hand, will take generations of erosion and weathering to render safe again. In the meantime, it is a dangerous place. What was once a sandstone playground is now a trip to the emergency room waiting to happen.
It would appear that helicopters airlifted entire crates of glass bottles and distributed them throughout the area. Pioneer Park shimmers and glistens for acres with the fine gossamer of shattered glass.
So much for conservation.
I’m not even going to speculate about who did this, but we can safely rule out tourists because the other mainstream tourist spots have not been turned into recreational laceration areas.
It’s not a matter of just wearing shoes. What happens when a child slips, reaches out to catch herself, and gets a palmful of glass? Scarring, suffering, and trauma aside, deep wounds like that can cause serious nerve damage.
Living here, it is easy to forget that people travel from all over the world to witness the breathtaking landscape. It’s easy to forget that there was a gentler indigenous culture that coexisted with the ecosystems here in a more sane way than the swarm of Caucasians who descended upon it like some Old Testament plague, destroying everything in their path. Their descendants, ever true to their ironic heritage, will not be stopped destroying it — and with the looming advent of a possible Lake Powell Pipeline combined with a lapine penchant for mindless reproduction, the plague has only begun.
I see no realistic way for all of that broken glass to be removed. Even with a massive cleanup effort, how long will it take natural erosion processes to render harmless the inevitably remaining splinters of glass?
I am not into glorifying the misdeeds of the military on behalf of the rich and the callous. Rather, this Memorial Day we should remember that we are living in the midst of the art of the Earth, and we should tread as lightly as we would in any national park.
Were this land left to its rightful inhabitants, I think it would have been far better off. Shame on you, St. George, for allowing a marvel of natural beauty to be wrecked, turning it into some sadistic obstacle course. This and similar obscene behavior has become your true legacy — the irresponsible stewardship of stolen lands — and it is a heritage in the making that will not be easily unmade.
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You are a sad pathetic person
I guess that’s your opinion. In my opinion, you need some serious therapy.
Yes!!!!
Maybe you should go head and move then!.
I’m sure but I think most of the people who are from here love to see that Dixie on the rock and I’m sure they have had great memories making it a tradition to paint it..I’m from here and my family has lived here for years..I love Dixie and I don’t think people like u have any right to change things that have been there for decades.. what next are u going to want to take the D off the hill?..
2 years ago, everytime I went to Pioneer park I pulled out at least one giant bag of trash. I adopted a section way above the parking lot to the west that is little used. I got to a point where I cleaned up all the glass in this area. Probably nobody picked up as much glass as I did during this period. It held for over a year thru a hot Summer. I cleaned out the caves in that area as well… Then came the plastic pellets from air guns. I gave up. I wrote a poem called pigsty park, and posted it on craigslist, after locals knocked down the old porta-potty for a second time and the city left the old crap and toilet paper to dry out next to the parking lot for weeks… (bathroom no longer exists.. it was removed at least a year ago) A homeless camp 20′ from the parking lot remained intact over a year after being reported to two different city agencies. I once found 10+ pills of precription drugs strewn across the ground near the parking lot… Used prophylactics too…. Yep, it is truly a garbage pit, and I gave up early last year and started cleaning up other areas with much greater success. The city should be ashamed, and those who continue to break bottles and spread glass over nature are low class cretins… RIP Pioneer park. I HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THIS IS AN AFFIDAVIT and the truth as I know it. To those who see this article about the Dixie logo, well you are truly shallow and missed the point.
It is a sick person who spoils something that is beautiful.
WHU???? One of my fave places. While no place is perfect this one’s pretty dang nice, beautiful, well kept and glorious. You must be one of those millennial snowflakes that needs his bunny..
Get a life. Chill. Whatever you need.