2021 Superintendent’s Message
As we start the New Year, I sincerely hope everyone is doing well and enjoyed the holidays. I thought this would be a good time to update everyone on the upcoming Visitor Center renovations and give some highlights from the past year.
In December, the Visitor Center renovation project was advertised, and a pre-bid meeting was held to answer any questions that prospective contractors may have regarding the project. This first part of the project involves the upgrade and expansion of the Jockey’s Ridge State Park visitor center. At a later date, we will advertise the fabrication of the exhibits. Our bid opening is planned for January 19th, at which time we should have a contractor selected. It is a lengthy process to make sure all the paperwork is in place, so our anticipated start of construction will likely be in April. The contract is for nine months so we are optimistic that we will be moving into the new Visitor Center sometime around this time next year! It will be another challenging year for our park staff as we adjust to the construction. We are planning to set up a construction trailer near the pavilion so visitors will still have contact with park staff. All our programming will be located outside and under the pavilion similar to how we have been operating with COVID restrictions.
The park staff have stayed very busy this year and accomplished some wonderful things. Our visitation this year prior to December already broke last year’s record visitation of 1.75 million at 1.85 million. Our fall season was the busiest fall on record. The park gave 277 programs that reached over 3,000 people this year. Not bad considering the difficult circumstances. For our Year of Fire theme, we were able to hold a prescribed burn on June 1st and got some wonderful film footage that our seasonal staff and Ranger Austin Paul used to make a short video presentation that was used the rest of the year. More prescribed burns are planned as soon as the weather cooperates. I am also happy to announce this year’s theme is the Year of the Beetle. A few other programs included assisting the YMCA with the E-learning enrichment weekly program, 50 days of Earth Day social media campaign, Full Moon Hikes and many virtual videos of park programs. Our kayak programs continued this fall, and a few summer ones were added. In addition, the park is now an official site for two new programs, Hawk Watch and Toys for Tots. As a bonus, Ranger Justin Barnes offered complimentary dune rides for a toy donation. Both programs were very popular and successful.
I hope all our friends have a wonderful upcoming year and look forward to seeing everyone on the dunes!
Sincerely,
Joy Greenwood, Superintendent
Jockey’s Ridge State Park
Pictured above: Superintendent Joy Greenwood at the Dune Day 2019 Celebration, Photo by Friends of Jockey’s Ridge
