Last October, avid national parks visitor Tawney Sweeney took a trip to St. Louis to celebrate her wedding anniversary. While here, she made sure to stop by Gateway Arch National Park to add a stamp to her prized “Passport To Your National Parks” binder, which at the time held dozens of  park stamps, each representing a different memorable trip to a national park over the last decade. Having grown up visiting national parks and continuing those trips as an adult, Tawney’s binder was incredibly important to her, and being able to add to it on this trip was a large part of why she chose to visit the city. 

Late one night during her stay in St. Louis, her car was broken into and the binder was stolen. Gateway Arch Park Foundation and its partners knew they needed to do what they could to make it right. 

Through a combined effort across the National Park Service, park friends groups, and cooperating associations, an initiative was launched to gift a Passport to Your National Parks binder, complete with stamps from each of Tawney’s visited parks, to its deserving owner. 

Working together with the park and partner community, Jefferson National Parks Association, Bi-State Development, Gateway Arch National Park, Eastern National, Outer Banks Forever, and Gateway Arch Park Foundation secured a replacement Passport binder, complete with stamps commemorating each of Tawney’s national parks visits (including the dates she visited), a complimentary 2-night stay complete with parking at Drury at the Arch, and a VIP invitation to Blues at the Arch Festival, where she could relax and enjoy the festivities in the Premium Experience tent. 

With the collaboration of not only these organizations, but also the many parks and partners who stepped in to make sure Tawney’s stamps were replaced, Tawney was presented with her new passport book at Blues at the Arch Festival in August 2024. Both the Foundation’s Ryan McClure and Gateway Arch National Park’s Jeremy Sweat were there to greet her, and Tawney was able to make yet another great memory in a national park. 

“We had a wonderful time in St. Louis and loved the people, so we knew we needed to come back.” 

Tawney Sweeney

A big thank you to Gateway Arch National Park, Jefferson National Parks Association, Bi-State Development, Outer Banks Forever, and Eastern National for their collaboration and commitment to this initiative, and to Tawney Sweeney for her support of national parks across the country.