Wednesday, August 11, 1999
Hot spell put chill on camping
Business rebounds at state parks in Tristate area
BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When temperatures soared last month into the upper 90s, attendance at the Tristate's state parks dropped, as did the revenue generated by camping fees.
Enter the mild breezes and relative cool of August, with high temperatures in the low to mid-80s and campgrounds teeming again with summer outdoor enthusiasts.
Some park managers said Tuesday the drop in oppressive humidity couldn't have come at a better time.
“Camping dropped off dramatically,” said Charles Clark, park manager at East Fork Lake State Park in Clermont County. “At one point, when it was 90, 100 degrees, I counted only 102 (campsites in use).”
East Fork has 416 sites. Last weekend, 375 were reserved. In July, the estimated number of persons using the park was 14,600, down from 19,400 in July 1998, Mr. Clark said. There were 20,000 park users each in May and June.
Forty percent of the park's $1.1 million annual budget is tied to revenue generated by camping fees, which run $15 a night.
Those numbers are mirrored at other state parks, including Versailles State Park in Ripley County, Ind., and Caesar Creek State Park near Waynesville in northern Warren County.
“I can account for maybe 20 people who didn't go camping,” Brian Smith, 29, of Amelia, said Tuesday as he prepared for a fishing tournament on the lake.
Every summer, Mr. Smith and his friends take their kids camping at East Fork. “No way, we thought. Not with the kids. It was, what, 101 that one weekend. I went to Coney instead.”
Mr. Smith isn't alone. To their good fortune, however, most state parks in the region operate on a fiscal year basis, going from July 1 to June 30. That gives parks 11 months to recoup losses from the July heat wave.
Carol Evans, office manager at Versailles, said the park probably lost $4,000 to $5,000 in anticipated revenue in July, not just in camping fees but also from lost concessions at swimming sites.
“Even our pool was down,” she said. “The water got so hot, it wasn't cooling people. ... We've been full almost every weekend since.”
Versailles State Park,which gets about 50 percent of its guests from Ohio, has 220 campsites at $11 a night. Those numbers are similar to Caesar Creek State Park, where 287 campsites go for $15 a night. Last week, 240 sites were rented. Park manager Chuck Thiemann estimated the numbers for July fell to between 180 and 200.
Mr. Thiemann said Caesar Creek, which has an annual budget of $1.2 million, actually saw an increase during the hot spell in boating, which ties to concessions.
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