The Daily Standard
Story Archive
High usage of Grand Lake St. Marys State Park, above, also translates into big money for the area economy.
ST. MARYS - Grand Lake St. Marys State Park enjoyed a record-breaking year for overnight stays in 2024, riding a wave of public enthusiasm for the great outdoors that lifted other state parks to similar heights.
The local state park campgrounds at 834 Edgewater Drive, St. Marys, achieved a high-water mark of 20,763 overnight stays at its seven cabins and 208 camping sites, smashing the previous record of 19,834 recorded in 2023.
Grand Lake St. Marys State Park Director Dave Faler credited a few factors for the banner year, among them a sustained level of passion for the outdoors unleashed following the stay-at-home era of the COVID pandemic, the strong lure of the park's swimming pool and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse.
Sungazers gathered throughout the Grand Lake region to watch the stunning celestial spectacle unfold under nearly perfect conditions, with mostly clear, sunny skies before and after totality and a high temperature of 72 degrees.
"I would say that 20,763 (figure), a lot of that had to do with the solar eclipse. We filled up for three days in April when we normally would not have many people at all at the campgrounds," Faler said.
Overall, Ohio's state parks set a new record in 2024 with 1.1 million overnight stays at cabins, campgrounds and lodges, surpassing a milestone reached in 2023 with 1.098 million overnight stays, according to an Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Parks and Watercraft news release.
"Ohio's state parks are a cornerstone of our state's identity, and we are thrilled to see so many families and adventurers embracing all the natural beauty and great outdoor opportunities our parks have to offer," ODNR Director Mary Mertz said in a statement. "From camping under the stars to boating on our beautiful lakes, people are connecting with nature in new and meaningful ways."
Of the overnight stays, more than 919,600 stays were at state-operated campsites, cabins, camper cabins and yurts, while roughly 192,500 nights were booked in one of Ohio's 10 state park lodges and the accompanying lodge cabins, according to the news release.
"Basically we were booked from the first week of April for the eclipse and then basically the second week of April through the second week of October," Faler said of last year's camping season at Grand Lake St. Marys State Park.
As much as 40% of campground patrons are locals, underscoring the extent to which the park has become a backyard getaway for folks in Mercer and Auglaize counties.
"It's a very common thing of a lot of local people that just come out here for the weekend to enjoy themselves," Faler said. "But we've seen the last three to four years a large increase of the number of people that are coming here and making it a destination and spending five to 14 days."
The busiest times of the year are holidays, special events and anytime the pool is open, Faler noted.
But the local park's record-breaking year in 2024 doesn't appear to be an outlier, as the large campground featuring full hookup, electric and non-electric sites along with access to the lake, boat docks and tie-ups has seen a steady uptick in overnight stays since 2020.
Overnight stays climbed from 14,631 in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, to 18,687 in 2021. They dipped just a bit to 18,316 in 2022 before jumping 8.29% to a then record of 19,834 in 2023 and then the new apex of 20,763 in 2024, according to figures provided by Faler.
This mirrors an overall trend over the last five years showing increasing visitation and outdoor activity, as Ohioans and visitors from across the country continue to explore the Buckeye State's vast natural resources.
High usage of Grand Lake St. Marys State Park also translates into big money for the area economy. Visitor spending generated $267.9 million in economic impact in Auglaize and Mercer counties in 2023, the Grand Lake Region Visitors Center announced last summer.
"Visitors coming to our area not only benefit our economy, but it can also be that first touchpoint to potentially entice them to take a job in the area or relocate here with their families," Grand Lake Region Visitors Center Executive Director Matt Staugler said in a statement. "That's the 'halo effect' tourism has in the economic development sense - it's the first step of possibly more investment in a place they discover and enjoy."
The campground boasts many features, including a naturalist program, a miniature golf course, sand volleyball and basketball courts, shelter houses, boat launch and boat docks, horseshoe pits, hiking trails, a camp store, and bicycle and canoe rental.
A 7,000-foot-long trail winds through the state park on the lake's East Bank. A similar trail follows the lake's shore and winds through some wooded areas on the lake's West Bank near Celina.
"I would say we have a lot of stuff for kids and families to do; we have our putter golf, we have basketball courts, we have gaga ball pits, two different playgrounds, giant checkers," Faler said.
The local state park offers its own splash pad, added to its campground area in 2014 as part of $2.4 million in state-funded upgrades. Along with surface-based water jets, children can cavort through streams of water delivered by a honey bee, a frog and a giant petunia flower in this nature-themed play area.
Grand Lake St. Marys was the first Ohio state park to feature a splash pad as an amenity. The park also rolled out a new, $1.5 million, U-shaped pool measuring 52-foot-by-77-foot and boasting a water slide in 2018. The splash pad and pool are open to campers only.
