Fort Verde State Historic Park lies in the heart of Camp Verde. Dating back to 1865, when it was a collection of tents called Camp Lincoln, the fort is one of the oldest places in the Verde Valley that is not a pre-colonial American Indian settlement.
In the past year, Fort Verde has seen a noticeable drop in attendance compared to the previous year. According to a report on Arizona state parks’ visitation and revenue prepared by the Arizona State Parks Board for the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, Fort Verde received 10,700 visitors in the 2019 Fiscal Year through July. This represents a 17.1% drop for the park compared to FY 2018, when 12,900 people visited the park.
Among Arizona state parks, Fort Verde saw the second biggest drop in the past year, with only Tonto Natural Bridge seeing a larger decline. Overall, Arizona state parks saw an increase in visitation in FY 2019, increasing by about 1%, after larger growth in previous years.
Park staff did not see a clear explanation for the drop in attendance. Though the park did increase its fees several years ago, there was no notable change in the past year that would be expected to cause a decrease in visitors.
“Park attendance can fluctuate based on a variety of circumstances, including weather, special events and local promotions or activities,” Arizona State Parks & Trails Chief of Communications Michelle Thompson wrote in an email. “Although Fort Verde’s visitation was lower last fiscal year, our overall park attendance was up.”
The two other parks closest to Fort Verde did not see similar drops in attendance. Dead Horse Ranch State Park on the edge of Cottonwood saw a 5.3% increase, while Jerome State Historic Park saw 8.8% growth.
“In the Camp Verde/ Cottonwood area, we did see that the past fall and winter were colder and wetter than usual, which did drop visitation in some of the parks in those areas,” Thompson wrote. “Whether the numbers were made up with the cooler-than-usual spring [which is great hiking weather] depends on the park.”
Despite the lower visitation, Fort Verde’s revenues stayed mostly consistent compared to last year. The park brought in $60,600 in FY 2019, a drop of just 1.5% compared to $61,500 the year before.
“Many of our visitors go to parks using an annual pass or even a free day-use pass, which is given out periodically for promotions,” Thompson wrote. “The use of these can alter the revenue-to-visitation scale.”
According to Thompson, the drop in visitation could influence the state park office’s marketing efforts, which seek to give parks that are flagging a slight boost.
“Encouraging visitors to learn about and visit all of Arizona’s state parks is our priority, and we work hard to highlight Fort Verde State Historic Park and all of its assets through our website, social media, printed materials and advertising,” Thompson wrote. “We promote the events and the educational opportunities there, and we know that continuing to have a robust marketing plan and ongoing involvement with the community can result in visitation in the future. We are also seeking more volunteers for the parks, specifically for Fort Verde. Anyone who is interested can inquire at the park.”
