Latest / Illinois Valley - Shaw Local / Starved Rock records slowest summer in 16 years

Transcript

Starved Rock records slowest summer in 16 years · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Starved Rock Records' Slowest Summer in 16 Years. Written by
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Tom Collins. This article is being read by an automated voice,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: brought to you by Everlit. Have you checked out the
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: sunflowers lately at Matthiessen State Park? The sunflowers were a
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: big draw this August, so much so that many visitors
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: may have simply skipped Starved Rock. The Park Office issued
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: the August visitor totals this week, and the results show
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: a trend that continues to surprise and disappoint. park officials.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Starved Rock had its worst summer in 16 years, with
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: summer attendance a quarter below average. True, Labor Day was
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: earlier last year, and some of August foot traffic was
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: recorded during the holiday weekend. Nevertheless, this year's totals are
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: historically low. From June 1st to August 31st, Starved Rock
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: welcomed about 658,000 visitors. Six years ago, the park had 1.1
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: million over the same span. That's incredible, said Monty Bernardoni,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: site superintendent for both parks. It's just a crazy occurrence.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Bernardoni had predicted earlier this year that skyrocketing gas prices
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: would keep Chicago area motorists from venturing out of state
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: and instead sticking to close-to-home state parks. But that prediction
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: has only played out for Madayasin. The sunflower blooms helped
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: the park to a strong August, 19% above average, and
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: kept Madayasin on pace for its third best year on record.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Starved rock attendance, meanwhile, was in no way helped by
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: surging gas prices. Three factors wiped out any summer boost.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Bad weather. The National Weather Service reported September 2nd that
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: the past one to three months were relatively wet and
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: stormy for most of Chicagoland, though average temperatures largely remained
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: near normal. Trail closures. About 30% of Starved Rock's trails
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: have been inaccessible since the Illinois Department of Natural Resources
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: launched an $ 18 million rehabilitation project. Poor publicity. Bernardoni and
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: his staff tried to spread the word that plenty of
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: trails still are open, but getting accurate information into the
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: diffuse world of social media proved a big challenge. Is
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: the down year hurting Utica's economy? It's too soon to tell.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Retail data from June isn't in yet, and the August
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: totals won't be in hand until after Halloween. But Amanda
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Carter of the Utica Business Association said she and other
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: retailers certainly noticed the headcount has been down lately. Yes,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: there has been a drop-off in traffic this year, Carter said. Plus,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: the weather hasn't been so kind on weekends. Matthiessen hasn't
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: been immune to the storms and stifling humidity either. June
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: attendance was just 5% above average, while Matthiessen missed its
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: July average by 1%. The park made up for that
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: deficit in August thanks to the ever-popular sunflowers, and the
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: park is on pace to hit half a million visitors
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: for the fifth time in six years. Starved Rock is
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: headed for a recent low, but not a record low.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Since 2009, the park has logged at least 2 million
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: visitors every year except 2013, when damaging spring storms forced
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: extensive trail closures. The park is projected to hit 2.1
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: million visitors, though that presumes average attendance for the rest
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: of the year.