Despite fewer restrictions, visitors still flock to parks
On any given weekend this summer at Alameda Park, pavilions and parking lots are packed with visitors coming in droves to visit the pool, explore the grounds and host graduation parties, family reunions and gatherings.
Butler County Parks and Recreation Director Lance Welliver said that pavilion rentals are booked through the end of the summer, and that when all 14 are at capacity, the park can see up to 1,500 visitors.
“We get a lot of people who utilize Alameda for various reasons,” he said. “We've seen a very good turnout for the park use every day.”
Despite the wrapping up of COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings and indoor activities, parks across Butler County are still seeing visitor traffic comparable to last year. Welliver said Alameda has seen a tremendous increase in activity, and he expects it to continue moving forward.
“It's good to see things kind of getting back to the way it used to be,” Welliver said. “I think it will only get more people involved in coming out to the park.”
Everyone was required to follow the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines last summer, he said, and as those guidelines opened up, “people started to come out more.”
Brian Flores, assistant park manager at Moraine State Park in northern Butler County, said that some numbers have dropped since restrictions have lowered. Attendance at Moraine this June was 12% lower than last year around the same time.However, last year's numbers were an unusually high peak — around 20% higher than the average — so the park isn't experiencing a dearth of visitors in general.To Flores, the park is doing well.“Statewide, we've seen a huge increase in camping: It hit strong and it's just kept going from last year,” Flores said. “The campgrounds are full, our cabins are full and we're booked all the way through the fall. We're almost out of kayak launch permits. People are definitely getting out and doing things.”Beaches at Moraine aren't as crowded, but there are many boats on the lake.“The outdoor rec programming was very limited last year, so that's been a change this year,” he said. “We've been able to do more guided hikes and kayaking programs.”Both this year and last year, Flores said, a number of new visitors have come to Moraine.“We'll get people who come into the office and say hey, first time, or that they're coming here with family for the first time,” he said. “I think a lot of people purchased a lot of their outdoor rec gear last year, and they're really using it this year.”
Pavilion rentals are particularly busy at Adams Township Community Park, said Adams Parks and Recreation director Haley Geyer.“We had closed down pavilion rentals and canceled those until we got into the green phase and we opened facilities back up,” Geyer said. “The only thing we had open was the walking trail, and even then our park was pretty busy with people getting outside. Once everything opened up, our pavilion rentals got even busier.”After a year of canceled parties, Geyer said that many visitors are trying to catch up.“They're trying to book those things while also still remaining safe, and one of the key things still is being outside,” she said.At the Adams Township Community Park, Geyer says there are plans to expand pavilions and bring in a new pavilion to better accommodate traffic. These renovations likely won't start until 2022, when the park also plans to build a new splash pad for children.John Gibson, property manager at the YMCA Armco Park, said that facility rentals are rising. He agrees that the lifting of restrictions has brought more people to parks.“Now, because of COVID restrictions being eased up, we've got all these different rentals going on: family reunions, grads, birthday parties,” he said. “We've got 70 rentals so far this year, and that's three shelters, plus our Armco hall and our dance hall. We have 25 graduation parties and 16 weddings booked from June 1 to mid-October.”
Geyer sees this trend continuing moving forward, at least while people are still looking for summer activities.“I think it's honestly the new normal,” she said. “COVID slowed people down, it got people outside and, at the end of the day, I think it got people to find out what other activities they could do, and so they reached out to community parks.”At Moraine, Flores believes that some visitors still see coming to public parks as a safer or more convenient option for socialization and spending their free time.“In my own perception of it, I think there's a comfort level still with folks not comfortable in large crowds,” he said. “There's a percentage of folks who feel comfortable at the park, and they want to come back.”
