"The visitor center is fully open, and the bathrooms are working, and we have maps and information, and volunteers and our staff that are there really helping the visitors. But behind the scenes, it's a big difference for us. We've had to pull in our staff, a partner of ours, Eastern National, who, they run the bookstore there. They've had to bring in a lot of staff. The Park Service, we actually pay for another Park Service ranger to help us there, as well."
"So, it's behind the scenes where we're kind of really working hard and we're only going to keep the visitor center open for October. We sort of exhaust our resources after that costs about almost $19,000 to keep the visitor center open for the month of October. When the Park Service said that we could reopen the visitor center, they said, though, you're going to have to cover the costs. The utility costs and the custodial costs and the park ranger. And that's about almost $19,000."
Salem, Massachusetts, home to the 1690s witch trials that killed dozens, expects about one million Halloween visitors. A recent federal government shutdown closed a Salem National Park Service visitor center and its bathrooms, prompting local leaders and nonprofits to cover reopening costs. Essex Heritage and partners staffed the center, coordinated volunteers, and paid for an additional Park Service ranger and utilities. Eastern National increased bookstore staffing. Keeping the facility open for October cost about $19,000, which the community expects to exhaust by month’s end. City officials, including the mayor, mobilized resources to sustain tourism and visitor services.
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