White Sands Missile Range held its first Trinity Site Open House of the year
WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. (April 5, 2022) The White Sands Missile Range Public Affairs Office (WSMR PAO) held its biannual Trinity Site Open House on Saturday, April 2, 2022. “This was the first open house with access to the Schmidt/McDonald Ranch House since being shut down due to COVID-19, and it was a great success! We had 3,469 visitors from all over the world, and everyone seemed incredibly happy to be out and about at the event,” said Camilla Montoya, Public Affairs Specialist, and event coordinator for Trinity Site for the past 17 years.
The WSMR PAO team provided free Trinity Site pamphlets, handicap shuttles to ground zero, and bus rides to the Schmidt/McDonald Ranch House for viewing, where the Environmental team was stationed and answered visitor questions. The Frontier Club’s management team was set up by the information shack cooking and selling food and refreshments, and at the site, visitors could buy t-shirts and souvenirs from the WSMR U.S. Army Family and Morale Welfare and Recreation truck.
Global media outlets, NHK World-Japan and France Télévisions, attended the event to cover the history of the Manhattan Project. Scott Stearns, Chief of Public Affairs, provided the media teams with guided tours. Montoya took brief interviews with the teams, and Jim Eckles, historian and former WSMR PAO employee, answered the teams’ questions on the historical and scientific impact of Trinity Site.
The Open House was made possible due to the countless police officers directing traffic and parking, along with the volunteers who have been showing up every year to assist the WSMR PAO team with set up and crowd management. “We look forward to more open houses in the future, providing the public with free access to this National Historic Landmark,” said Montoya.
Photo 1: On April 2, at Trinity Site Open House, visitors enter the gate leading to ground zero. Photo taken by Jose Salazar, White Sands Missile Range Public Affairs Photographer.
Photo 2: On April 2, at Trinity Site Open House, visitors read about Jumbo. Photo taken by Jose Salazar, White Sands Missile Range Public Affairs Photographer.
Photo 3: On April 2, at Trinity Site Open House, a visitor and his dog wait for the next handicap shuttle to ground zero. Photo taken by Jose Salazar, White Sands Missile Range Public Affairs Photographer.
Photo 4: On April 2, at Trinity Site Open House, visitors prepare to take the bus to the McDonald Ranch house. Photo taken by Jose Salazar, White Sands Missile Range Public Affairs Photographer.