SLADE, Ky. (LEX 18) — Kentucky State Parks are celebrating 100 years in communities in 2024. Governor Beshear visited parks across the state, including the Woodland Center at Natural Bridge State Park in Powell County. He's calling for more of an investment in state parks.
Beshear says, "The local economy, especially where we are right now, depends on this state park, first to attract people for tourism dollars, but then to introduce them to what an incredible community it is."
Leaders from Natural Bridge State Park and other local officials shared the impacts that the park has had on Powell County's community. In 2023, visitors from 49 different states came to the park, and more came from across the globe over the years.
Debbie Tipton has been involved in tourism for some time. She grew up in Slade and wants to see state officials invest more in communities that rely on these parks.
She explains, "I was born here so I always knew...I thought everybody had a state park in their backyard you know and the memories...there's not a lot of social places to go to. We didn't have movie theatres or shopping malls, so this is where we gathered."
Now, Tipton and her husband own a cabin company in the community and Tipton is on the Powell County Tourism Board. She shared that her parents dated in this park, and many more in her family worked here. She says these parks connect communities in more ways than one.
"I think that our state needs to realize that our legislators need to know that money put in is not money thrown away, it is money well spent to create jobs. And the state park is here. It provides jobs. It brings people here that create jobs for other people too,” says Tipton.
Governor Beshear shares that he hopes to get more funds going back into state parks.
He says, "It's important that we continue to support our state parks. They help us in everything we do. And when the worst of the worst happens from a natural disaster to a water line failure, the state parks open up their doors and they help our people."
