By Becky Fogel, Texas Standard
An iconic corner of Big Bend National Park will soon be featured on U.S. Priority Mail stamps.
The stamp art highlights the Rio Grande as it flows through the limestone cliffs of Santa Elena Canyon. The Big Bend-themed stamp is one of two new stamps the United States Postal Service will release on Jan. 18, 2020. The second one USPS is releasing will feature the Grand Island Ice Caves of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Every year, USPS's Citizen's Stamp Advisory Committee fields about 30,000 suggestions for stamp art. Of the thousands of ideas submitted, the committee chooses about 25 to 30, according to USPS spokesperson Becky Hernandez.
Hernandez said the committee looks for ideas that celebrate "people, beautiful parts of America, culture and events."
"So Big Bend is definitely a beautiful part of America and that's why it was chosen," said Hernandez.
Greg Breeding designed the stamp, which features art by Dan Cosgrove, whose recent commissions also include work for Texas Monthly magazine, Netflix, Shell Oil and the New York Times.
Apart from the upcoming Big Bend stamp, Texas has been featured on a few postal service stamps in the past. In 2012, the USPS issued a Texas flag stamp as part of their "Flags of our Nation" series. Before that, the postal service unveiled a Texas stamp that featured a Texas longhorn grazing in front of the Alamo. The words "Greetings from Texas" and a yellow rose bordered the 2002 stamp.
The Santa Elena Canyon stamp starts at $7.35, and allow customers to ship and track packages to any of the 50 states for delivery within one to three days.