MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
For now, Acadia National Park in Maine is open to the public despite the government shutdown. As Maine Public Radio's Kaitlyn Budion reports, businesses in the area rely on those tourists and are welcoming them to the park.
KAITLYN BUDION, BYLINE: The Hulls Cove Visitor Center at Acadia is a hub of activity Sunday morning. The parking lot is full, with more cars circling to hunt for a spot, and crowds of visitors are waiting for the free bus to take them to other areas of the park.
AMY SMITH: I think we want to do some hiking and then also views. I have honestly no idea.
BUDION: Amy Smith is investigating the large signs at the visitor center entrance after arriving at the park from Dallas, Texas.
SMITH: I have a list of things, but I don't even know how to get there because our GPS won't work up here. So (laughter) I'm hoping I can find a map, but I don't know that it's open.
BUDION: It's her first trip to Acadia, Smith says. They haven't had to change any plans because of the shutdown, if only because the plan was always to adapt after arriving.
SMITH: We're kind of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants people, so we have no idea what we're doing. So I don't know. We'll (laughter) - we didn't have any plans to start with, so we're just going to figure out what we're going to do once we're here.
BUDION: The turnout from Smith and other visitors over the holiday weekend marking Indigenous Peoples Day is a relief for businesses that were bracing for the park to fully close during the government shutdown.
GLENN TUCKER: Yeah, we were sweating a little bit. We had these group trips planned that had been on the agenda for months.
BUDION: Glenn Tucker owns several tourism businesses, renting outdoor gear like e-bikes and kayaks and running guided tours in Acadia.
TUCKER: And if the park closed, we would get a massive number of cancellations because that's what people come here for.
BUDION: Tucker says it's clear to him how much his business relies on Acadia.
TUCKER: We're not on the way to anything here. You got to make an effort to get here.
BUDION: But the park staying open is still a double-edged sword. It's a challenge for the skeleton crew of federal staff, even with outside groups working to bridge the gap. And longer-term impacts could affect how reliably Acadia draws tourists to the area in future seasons.
ERIC STILES: It's not the way that you want to operate an economy that relies on stability.
BUDION: Eric Stiles is the president and CEO of the nonprofit Friends of Acadia. He says it's taken concentrated restoration work to turn Acadia into one of the country's most successful national parks.
STILES: Think about all of the hotels and restaurants and all the guide businesses on this island. They are all dependent on that high-quality experience.
BUDION: The National Park Service reports that last year Acadia saw 4 million visitors and added $745 million in economic output to this part of Maine. And with that growth has come a longer tourist season, says Everal Eaton, executive director of the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce.
EVERAL EATON: Bar Harbor has really gotten on the map as being one of those iconic places to visit, especially during the fall foliage.
BUDION: That fall business tends to peak around Indigenous Peoples Day weekend, Eaton says. So while there's relief that the park isn't closed, the chamber is working to provide information and answer questions that are normally handled by park staff. And Acadia is unable to collect entrance fees during the shutdown. Rangers are not enforcing payments, and even self-service ticket machines are out of order. Stiles with Friends of Acadia says last October the park collected $1.5 million in fees.
STILES: So there will be cascade impacts for one to three years that are felt at Acadia National Park because of the lost revenues.
BUDION: Around town, businesses are posting flyers and sharing links for visitors to donate their entrance fee instead through Friends of Acadia. Stiles hopes it will make up for some of the lost revenue for the park. For NPR News, I'm Kaitlyn Budion. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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