Zion National Park Visitors Are ‘Inspired’ After Reading These Orange Signboards Across the Park
Picture a music band planning a concert whose funds would be backed by a sponsor. All of a sudden, this sponsor cuts the contract and withdraws the funds, which leaves the band members and the artists on the rocks. To manage the financial collapse, each musician visits a different sponsor with an appeal letter to request funds. If Springdale’s Zion National Park were a musical band, today, it is going through the same dilemma, provoked by the U.S. Government’s failure to arrive at a negotiation about the federal funds. Thanks to its visitors, the situation is improving, according to a report by The Salt Lake Tribune.
As Congress’s leaders continue to haggle, the box of America’s funds remains locked. The pitiful scenario imposed by the unforeseen parley has forced Zion to request donations from its visitors. “Entrance fee donations,” reads the message scrawled in bold white letters printed on a dark orange signboard pockmarked across the park premises. This is the scenario that would make Zion's infamous “Weeping Rock,” the one that never weeps, weep, because the park’s funds are dwindling.
Angels Landing, America’s one of the scariest hikes, has turned even scarier because the park’s employees are no longer there to assist the hikers. The snaking corridors of refrigerator canyon, the narrow trails of the Virgin River, the white tips of Navajo sandstones; everything should have faded into its former shadow, triggered by the circumstances of shutdown. But happily enough, they haven’t.
Everything in Zion, from lush alcoves to the sandstone cliffs that guard the bubbling, cool emerald pools, everything remains unsullied despite the lingering obstacles of staffing shortage and waning funds. Carol Erbar, who recently visited the park with her husband, reported that the park seems to be running as “smoothly” as it should. Reactions from other visitors have also been “inspiring.” All thanks to the Zion Forever project, Zion’s non-profit partner, which put up these orange signs to pass the hat around.
Natalie Randall, Managing Director at Utah Office of Tourism, even stated that the non-profit is contributing “even more than the state,” in conversation with ABC4 Utah. Bulk donations are pouring in. "Visitors have donated between $1,200 and $2,200 per day since the shutdown began on Oct. 1,” said Natalie Britt, CEO of Zion Forever Project. The donations, however, she said, aren’t the most inspiring part. The most inspiring part of this shutdown episode is "the notes people leave when they donate,” she said. "'We’ve had people that will give $70 to say, ‘This is for me and for another family, I want to pay it forward.’”
But despite the procurement of funds, the park is losing visitors in worrying numbers, which means a staggering decline in revenue. Officials shared that revenue of about $35,000 to $50,000 is shrinking per day due to the cut in the entrance fees. Only last week, the park welcomed only 25,000 visitors, in contrast to the usual number of 80,000 to 90,000. The flinching pocket of federal funding has left the park in a shambolic mood, with half of the employees constrained to work without pay and the other half entirely bulldozed by job suspension.
“During a shutdown, those collections stop. Revenues can’t be replaced," lamented Britt. Zion is set to receive $8,000 per day to keep the visitor centers open in Utah. But this, it seems, isn’t enough. Nevertheless, this rock-chick star named Zion continues to keep its fans engaged. Erbar and other visitors are just relishing the rare opportunity to step past Zion’s entrance, without having to shell out $35 at the entrance counter. This means a free-of-cost live concert, staged by ululating winds, babbling Virgin Rivers, trickling teardrops of Weeping Rock, croaking treefrogs, yelping coyotes, and the performance continues.
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