Go to a national park, it's free!
To celebrate the first official weekend of summer, why not visit your closest national park? Admission to U.S. national parks will be free this weekend and two more weekends this summer. Caitlan Carroll reports.
National Park Service trail crew members prepare to repel down the side of a cliff while repairing a trail in the Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz. (John Moore/Getty Images)
TEXT OF STORY
Bill Radke: Individual Americans are running deficits, too, and the National Park Service is here to help. Starting this weekend, the parks are saying, "Keep your money -- just come outside and play!" Here's Marketplace's Caitlan Carroll.
Caitlan Carroll: Hikers can pack extra trail mix and leave their wallets at home this weekend. Admission to all the national parks will be free. The park service is dropping admission fees on three weekends this summer: this weekend, one in July and in August.
Last year, the national parks received more than 200 million visits, bringing in billions of dollars to local economies. This year may be leaner as families cut back on travel budgets.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar wants the promotion to remind families that national parks are an inexpensive way to have fun. The plan will cost parks and monuments about a half million dollars a day in lost revenue, but the park service hopes visitors might spend some of the money they save at the gift shop.
New Mount Rushmore snow globe anyone?
I'm Caitlan Carroll for Marketplace.
Comments
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From NC, 07/01/2009
It's a shame the article had to "P" on Pat o's parade.
Language is fluid; we were able to understand the meaning.
From Denver, CO, 06/19/2009
Uh, that term in the caption is RAPPEL, not repel. Rappel is to work your way down a slope using a rope. Repel is, well, to turn away or disgust or annoy ... kind of like your copy editor did to me with a boneheaded mistake.
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