ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 21, 1996 TAG: 9606210043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
THE ADMISSION PRICE is heading up at a time when the park is having trouble reaching its season attendance goals.
Explore Park, a Roanoke County depiction of an 18th-century frontier village, will raise admission prices, despite lower-than-expected attendance, officials there said Thursday.
Beginning next April, the start of the park's season, adult admission will rise 50 percent from $4 to $6.
The rate for children ages 6 to 18 will rise by 20 percent from $2.50 to $3; children in school groups will pay $2 each, up 33 percent from the current $1.50.
The new rates were approved Tuesday by the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority, the park's governing board.
The park was created at state expense and is operated with state and local government subsidies and private contributions.
Rupert Cutler, the park's executive director, said board members believed raising admission fees was justified because the living history and recreation park offers new things to see and do and charges less than some other attractions.
The increases come at a time when Explore is struggling to meet this season's attendance goal of 40,000 visitors and after it revised its operating budget to account for missed revenue projections. Three months into the seven-month season, attendance is at about 7,800, according to Cutler.
With an eye toward improving attendance, park officials are hiring a marketing officer. The governing board already is counting on results: A new budget, also passed Tuesday, predicts admission revenue will more than double from $60,000 during the fiscal year that ends June 30 to $150,000 during the following 12 months.
The park this season has expanded the number of days it is open from three a week to four and is in the midst of constructing new attractions, which include an Indian village, a church and year-round restaurant. As part of an enhanced activity schedule, costumed interpreters will re-enact a 1756 battle of the French and Indian War, and a pretend Colonial-era doctor will exhibit surgical implements this weekend.
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