GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Brown County Parks reported a surge in park visitors this May.
“We are noticing that from the year 2018 to 2019 and out 2020 that 70% increase, so for example in May 2019 we had about 49,000 park users and now in May 2020, we are at 146,000 park users, so we’ve definitely been seeing an increase,” said Nicole Hilker with Brown County Parks.
She tells FOX 11 the May numbers have to do with businesses being closed.
“I would have to think it was because of the fact of COVID and the pandemic and a lot of people didn’t have a lot of options for places to go.”
Outdoor recreation like kayaking, fishing and picnicking are on the rise at local parks.
Quoa Lee says his kids are excited to use the playground again, “This park, it is a huge park and it’s the only way for us to actually stay away.”
Lee tells FOX 11 they come to Pamperin Park a couple of times a week.
“It’s the only way for me to put the kids outside to roam around and play. I mean I can take them to our backyard but they can only play out there for so long and kinda get tired of it.”
Hilker says the pandemic helped people find what Brown County has to offer.
“People just didn’t know they existed and now we can see through this data and through these numbers that people were definitely going out to these areas and discovering them.”
Although you may not see it, Brown County Parks installed traffic monitors to tally every vehicle that comes into the park.
They also have an infrared camera system to track people on county trails.
The parks department hopes it can continue to be a source of entertainment for Brown County families.
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