Community
Zion Canyon Lions Club
Zion Canyon Lions Club Has a Story to Tell: 74 Years of History
The Zion Canyon Lions Club was organized and chartered in 1951, eight years before Springdale became an incorporated town. A small group of residents from Springdale, Zion National Park, Rockville, and Virgin wanted to channel their civic impulses toward good causes, and the Lions Club was born. The Zion Canyon Lions have been promoting community, humanitarian, and charitable causes ever since. As their little towns grew up, the Lions Club worked alongside each town to make life better for all its residents.
The early club was a men-only organization; it was 1987 when the Lions International organization formally allowed women to join the club, but even earlier, some women in the Zion Canyon area united to create the “Lady Lions” in Springdale, and their club functioned as a female auxiliary in the canyon for a few years. The Lady Lions were very active alongside the men, and one of their major projects was the construction of the Gazebo at the Springdale Town Park. Today, the club’s women and men work side-by-side, sharing in leadership and shaping the club’s agenda.
An interesting and little-known fact about the early Zion Canyon Lions Club demonstrates how ambitious and determined the club members were. Without realizing that the International Lions organization would not allow individual clubs to own real estate, the Zion club set about acquiring 160 acres of land from the Bureau of Land Management. That land is now the location of Springdale’s town offices, parks, library, and community center, as well as the OC Tanner Amphitheater and the Zion Canyon Mesa.
The original club intended to build a Little League ball field, rifle range, and landfill on their land for the town on their property. The Lions laid a 2-inch water line from the main street to water the ball field and a line of trees they had planted. They also constructed a 40x40-foot cinderblock building as a Lions Club meeting house, which they donated to the Town of Springdale. That building served the towns offices and meeting house until a new town office building was constructed decades later. Old timers in Springdale may recall that the town clerk/secretary in those early days used the old refrigerator in the Lions Club kitchen as her filing cabinet for town documents.
As it turned out, Zion Canyon Lions were informed that they could not own property, so the club promptly donated all 160 acres to the Town of Springdale. Subsequently, the Town donated a large portion of that land to Dixie College (now UTU) as a building site for classrooms and other buildings to house summer school activities for the benefit of students. It is safe to speculate that the Town of Springdale, Utah Tech University, and Zion Canyon Mesa are the beneficiaries of millions of dollars of real estate (in today’s economy), thanks to the Zion Canyon Lions Club.
The early club’s activities ranged from funding Springdale’s first 15 fire hydrants and its first streetlights, as well as donating 80 man-hours to repair the home of a widow in Virgin; they funded mobile chest x-ray units, painted and repaired Springdale Elementary and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recreation hall, sponsored the March of Dimes, and provided pre-school eye tests and exams for 70 area children, then paid for eyeglasses when families could not afford them. The club created a wetlands bird sanctuary at Springdale’s Big Spring and provided funding for the tennis courts and playgrounds in Springdale and Rockville, and it has provided benches along the streets in Rockville and Springdale.
The Zion Canyon Lions Club’s notable club projects are visible for all to see, but some of their work isn’t always apparent. More recently the Club has contributed funding for cancer treatments for local children, donated 500 hygiene kits to the Hurricane Food Pantry, donated a 10’x16’ storage shed to the Dove Center, funded student service scholarships to students, supported Springdale Elementary with musical instruments, a new drinking fountain, and other needs, and built disabled-accessible playground equipment for Rockville Park. The Club provided $4,000 in Covid Relief to local residents and raised over $13,000 for the Zion Canyon Medical Clinic flood relief. Just this month, it made a substantial gift to a local family following a home explosion and fire.
The work goes on. The current Lions Club members are vigorous and committed, but younger members are needed to inspire the next generation of civic leaders. Zion Canyon Lions Club is actively recruiting membership and welcomes all to apply. To sign up or learn more, contact club secretary Shirley Ballard at 435-680-3939.