Kentucky’s new Tourism, Arts, and Heritage Cabinet Secretary is pledging a renewed effort to fix up the state park system.
Don Parkinson appeared before the Senate Economic Development, Tourism, and Labor Committee Thursday. Repairs and renovations needed at Kentucky’s parks are estimated to cost $241 million.
Committee Chair Alice Forgy Kerr says some funds may have to come from outside of state government.
“I think the revenue that these state parks will bring in will more than compensate for anything that goes out to repair them and to renovate, and make them again what they were and better,” said Forgy-Kerr.
Kentucky is home to 49 state parks, including 19 resort parks. Parkinson says although the estimated price tag for repairs and refurbishments runs into the hundreds of millions, there’s no talk of closing any parks.
“I don’t know,” said Parkinson. “We’re still going through it and there’s a lot of work. You don’t want to start jumping to that conclusion yet. We have a lot of work to do.”
Parkinson says Kentucky’s parks sit on some of the best real estate in American and more needs to be done to attract new visitors. He says the commonwealth is currently being outspent in marketing by states like Tennessee and Missouri.
