Although Calhoun County Park is known for its prime stargazing opportunities, park officials have encountered a problem: visitors don’t stick around for too long.
“One of the problems Calhoun County has is that there is no place for people to stay,” said Donnie Pitts, chairman of the county park board. “We have a lot of one-day visitors but not many weekenders.”
Some practical additions to the 250-acre park, funded through an Appalachian Regional Commission program and local groups, are expected to keep campers and other park-goers in the area for an extended stay.
The Calhoun County Commission recently received roughly $300,000 for park improvements ranging from new restrooms and a shower house to power outlets in a dedicated stargazing area.
Astronomy buffs from Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere have used the park about 4 miles south from Grantsville in recent years for “star parties,” as the rural county’s dark skies make it easy to view the stars above.
These dedicated stargazers are “a pretty hardy bunch,” Pitts said. But bringing more convenient amenities into the mix is necessary to make more casual visitors inclined to stay, he added.
“I know when [stargazers] bring their families, or bring their kids, they want convenience,” Pitts said.
Longer stays would mean more time for tourists to venture outside the park and spend at businesses within the rural county. Calhoun County has been searching for an economic shot in the arm as it weathers problems common among aging, rural communities, said Fred Rader, community development director of the Mid-Ohio Valley Regional Council.
“They’re trying to grow the tourism industry,” he said. “With the ARC grant for the facilities at the park, that should help attract more astronomers.”
Roger Jarvis, a member of the county park board, estimates that 250 to 300 people make their way into the park to stargaze annually, but he noted that it’s hard to measure because visitors come and go as they please.
Stargazing parties held by astronomers contribute toward this estimate. These events typically see 20 to 30 people per outing, Jarvis said. Local stores and restaurants made around $3,000 collectively providing goods for a recent star party, he said.
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Talks of making the park more stargazer-friendly have been going on for years, with entities such as the University of Tennessee, West Virginia University Extension Service and Fairmont State University being involved in varying capacities. A few years ago, Fairmont State students even showed off 3-D models of potential star-themed landscaping monuments that could be added to the park.
“They genuinely like to interact with the public, and they’ve given presentations of park ideas that have turned out really awesome,” said Diane Ludwig, director of the Little Kanawha Area Development Corporation, which covers Calhoun County, of the students. “Their ideas are something out of a different world.”
For now, though, infrastructure upgrades like electricity are more of an immediate necessity, Pitts said. Park-goers don’t need much in terms of electrical power, but using outlets to recharge batteries for their equipment is a nice feature to have, he said.
A more ambitious infrastructure addition that has been floated by astronomy enthusiasts is Wi-Fi access at the park. The primary appeal for Wi-Fi would be for astronomers to operate a telescope in the park without even needing to be physically present.
“There are places that are doing that now, and what they do is sell subscriptions,” Pitts said. “They buy subscriptions so they can log on and use the telescope.”
Besides the new amenities still in the early stages of being installed, officials are considering building a handful of small cabins for park-goers to lodge in.
“We have room for five or six cabins, and I really think it would be a great asset to the park and to the county,” Pitts said. “Our thinking is if we give them a good, clean place to stay, that will generate some longer stays.”
The tourism draw could benefit businesses throughout the year — stargazing doesn’t necessarily have a “season,” Pitts said. Stargazers want clear skies and dependable weather, so it would be more reliant on those day-to-day factors than anything else, he said.
But the continued appeal of the park for stargazing purposes is reliant upon the area maintaining its lack of light pollution, and park officials are starting the process to certify the park as a “dark sky site” via the International Dark-Sky Association. That designation typically takes two years to obtain, Pitts said.
“If someone looks at our park and sees we’re dark sky certified, that might mean a lot to them,” he said. “There are some advantages to that. They know what they can expect.”
