They may still be banned on the slopes at Utah’s Deer Valley and Alta ski areas, but snowboarders are the new guests of honor at the U.S. Postal Service. The USPS is commemorating the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games by issuing a stamp featuring an illustration of a snowboarder.
The stamp illustrated by Steve McCracken portrays an airborne snowboarder against the backdrop of a snowcapped mountain and was introduced Friday during Olympic qualifying competition for U.S. snowboarders in Park City, Utah.
Park City is also the home of Deer Valley — one of three remaining ski areas in the U.S. in which snowboarders are not allowed. Mad River Glen in Vermont is the other.
Snowboarding has been part of the Winter Olympics since 1998.
Stamps featuring Olympic themes have been popular since the first modern Olympiad in 1896, when Greece issued 12 Olympic-themed commemorative stamps. Beginning in 1932, when the Olympic Games were held in Los Angeles, numerous U.S. stamps have honored the Games.
