HARRISBURG (Newsradio 1020 KDKA) - According to a report, nearly 107,600 people visited Presque Isle State Park in Erie over the Fourth of July weekend.
According to Erie News Now, that is over 25,000 more people compared to the same three day period in 2019.
At the Kinzua Bridge in Mt. Jewett, PA also saw heavy crowds over the weekend.
The DCNR says a record number of people are visiting state parks with 5.8 million people visiting in May compared to 4.2 during the same time last year.
The PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources expected large crowds ahead of the 4th of July celebration due to nice weather and the holiday falling on a weekend.
Masks must be worn and social distancing of at least six feet from anyone not in your party should also be practiced while visiting a state park.
“We fully understand the value of the outdoors experience during these trying times, and we encourage park visitors to spread out to other less popular state parks and consider off-times or days other than the weekend,” Sectary Cindy Dunn said on Friday. “For would-be campers on this eve of a holiday weekend, all park campsites are booked, but so-called ‘primitive camping’ possibilities still exist in many of our state forests. State forests also provide excellent avenues to hiking, picnicking and other outdoors activities.”
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