Shangri La Open on Fourth of July Holiday,
June 30, 2008
ORANGE, Texas, June 30, 2008 – The gates of Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center will be open on Friday, July 4, providing the public an entertaining and educational holiday activity. Shangri La will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., although admission to the facility will close at 4 p.m. Standard admission rates will apply.
Free parking is available at the Lutcher Theater parking lot, 707 Main Avenue, Orange, Texas, with free shuttle service to Shangri La offered every 15 minutes.
Shangri La is located at 2111 West Park Avenue, Orange, Texas. For more information, please visit www.shangrilagardens.org or call 409.670.9113.
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About Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center
Nestled within 252 acres in the heart of Orange, Texas, Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center is a program of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, a private foundation whose mission is to improve and enrich the quality of life in Southeast Texas and encourage and assist education. The unique ecosystem of Shangri La presents an ideal opportunity to further that mission as well as carry on the vision of H.J Lutcher Stark, the man who originally developed the gardens more than 60 years ago.
The formal Botanical Gardens contain more than 300 plant species in five formal "rooms” as well as four sculpture “rooms.” The Nature Center includes Adams Bayou boat excursions to educational outposts, a 15-acre Beaver Pond, a state-of-the-art bird blind, a bat house, thousands of nesting birds in Ruby Lake, and more up-close encounters with nature.
Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center is the first project in Texas and the 5thproject in the world to earn the U.S. Green Building Council’s Platinum Certification for LEED®-NC, which verifies that the design and construction of Shangri La reached the highest green building and performance measures. Shangri La offers a glimpse of how people can live in harmony with nature, as it strives in its mission to Mentor Children of All Ages to Be Kind to Their World.