More visitors are streaming through the gates of the Wright Park Zoo this year.
Average attendance at the zoo started to rise in March and April and has continued to climb since then, zookeeper Tony Hornberger told the Globe on Tuesday.
He said the zoo saw more than 9,000 visitors just in June and July, due in large part to the Dodge City Days celebration in late July.
"Dodge City Days helps quite a bit, but that's only about a week or so of July," he said. "So we had good numbers throughout July."
Hornberger said the national recession may have contributed to higher attendance this summer, but he likes to think it's because supporters are working on making the zoo more attractive to visitors.
The nation's economic woes may be prompting Ford County residents to forgo out-of-town trips this summer. Instead, they seem to favor recreational opportunities in their own back yard.
Dodge City doesn't track the number of visitors to its local parks, so it's impossible to tell whether attendance was higher this summer, said Parks and Recreation director Paul Lewis.
He did say that attendance numbers at the All 4 Fun family entertainment center and the municipal pool were about the same as last year, despite a rainier summer season this year.
He said that it wasn't possible to tell whether the recession contributed to attendance numbers at those two attractions.
"I think people appreciate having affordable recreational opportunities," Lewis said. "And during tough economic times, that really does help demonstrate the benefit of Parks and Recreation and the role that they play in the community. It does give people an opportunity for some low-cost recreational opportunities."
The municipal pool has attracted 11,412 visitors so far this year, compared to 11,616 at this time last year.
Attendance figures for All 4 Fun were not immediately available.
State parks
Kansans' interest in staying closer to home isn't limited to local attractions, however. State parks are also reporting higher turnouts this summer.
Take Meade State Park, for example.
The park averaged about 74,288 visitors from January through Aug. 1 each year from 2003 through 2007, park manager Mark Goldsberry said. Then in 2008, attendance for the same time period jumped to 75,710 people.
So far this year, the park has drawn 84,168 visitors — an increase of about 10,000 people over the average for the past few years.
"Normally down here, depending on the years, we'll bounce around between about 111,000 to 145,000 depending on weather and lake level and whatnot," Goldsberry said. "So if the trend continues, then at the end of December we should be a little above what we've had in the past."
Other state parks are reporting similar increases in visitor numbers this season.
The combination of a national recession and lower fuel prices may have sparked more interest in visiting Cedar Bluff Reservoir, where attendance is up 21 percent this year, said park manager Chris Smith. He said he expects the trend to continue through the end of the summer.
"Usually, August can be a little bit down for us, right before school starts and as soon as school starts," he said. "But so far, we've been surprised this month. We've had pretty good visitation the rest of the way through. So I don't expect any real drop-off until after the Labor Day weekend."
Overall, the state park system saw 6.5 million visitors in 2008 and has reported 4.6 million visitors so far this year, said Kathy Pritchett, public service administrator for Kansas Wildlife and Parks.
She said that several factors, including the recession, may be responsible for this year's attendance.
"One of the managers mentioned that people that he knew would have driven to Colorado in the past for three days are instead staying in the local park for a week," she said. "I'm sure that's part of it."
Reach Eric Swanson at (620) 408-9917 or e-mail him at eric.swanson@dodgeglobe.com.
