ROANOKE TIMES Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times DATE: Sunday, May 26, 1996 TAG: 9605280047 SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
VISIT EXPLORE PARK in Roanoke County on Fridays to ``kick back and enjoy it'' without the crowds, the general manager says.
Explore Park will stay open a fourth day each week beginning next month.
The Roanoke County living history and recreation park now is open three days per week - Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Fridays will be added, starting June 7, to give the public more time to use the park, General Manager Chet Simmons said Friday.
"You can get in here on a Friday when it's not too crowded and really kick back and enjoy it," Simmons said.
Costs have restricted operating hours of the park, which is in its third season. The park is tax-supported with admission fees covering about 6 percent of the budget.
But park leaders believe they can admit the public Fridays without strain. That's because school groups, for whom the park has been reserved on Friday, will stop coming when school lets out next month.
When school resumes this fall, however, school groups will be welcome Monday through Friday until Explore's season ends Oct. 28.
When the park reopens in April 1997, Simmons said he hopes the public can be admitted every day of the week.
To pay part of an expected 20 percent rise in operating costs related to the longer hours, Explore Park hopes to rely for the first time on cash grants from communities outside Roanoke Valley, Simmons said. Park leaders will solicit Lynchburg and the governments in and around the counties of Bedford, Campbell, Pittsylvania, Henry, Patrick and Franklin, Simmons said.
The park has recently been active in private fund raising. A phone campaign earlier this month raised $5,500.
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