The new Twentynine Palms Visitor Center and Gallery and Twentynine Palms Chamber of Commerce office will host an all day Open House on Friday, May 7, to celebrate the new downtown facility at 73484 Twentynine Palms Highway on the corner of Desert Queen Avenue, adjacent to Bucklin Park and the Neighbors in Nature mural. A ribbon cutting will take place at 4 p.m. on Friday, followed by a reception from 4 to 7 p.m. for residents and visitors to drop by for refreshments and a tour of the recently renovated building.

The new downtown tourist facility features a retail area with gifts and souvenirs, along with visitor information, maps, brochures, computers for Internet access, and a kiosk with video presentations from the City of Twentynine Palms, Joshua Tree National Park, and the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center.

A highlight of the new visitor center is an art gallery wall, administered by the Public Arts Advisory Committee, featuring desert paintings, photography, and mixed media by 11 artists from Twentynine Palms and Wonder Valley.

The gallery is designed to give visitors a flavor of the local art community, and works will be for sale. Featured in the first showing are desert paintings by Robert Arnett, Chuck Caplinger, Audrey Gillick, and Pat Flynn; mixed media and sculpture by Mita Barter, Ann Congdon, Mark Heuston, and Anne Lear; and photography by Jim Bagley, Perry Hoffman, and Andy Woods.

The new visitor center marks the fourth in a series of recent redevelopment projects undertaken by the City of Twentynine Palms. The Chamber of Commerce will maintain its offices and conference room in the building and will manage the visitor center for the City, offering visitor hospitality and services seven days a week.

For more information about the Open House on May 7, contact the Chamber at (760)367-3445 or the Visitor Center line at (760)367-6197.