Although these calls do not crash our system like Taylor Swift concert ticket sales, reservations for April, May and June field trips do fill in less than three hours. 

The park has been a major destination for school field trips for more than 40 years, and the demand for sand dune programs has not slowed down.

In fact, some years we turn away as many groups as we take in.

Grand Rapids Public Schools, for instance, have a grant from Open Systems Technology to cover bus costs for every fifth grader in the district to visit the lakeshore.

Date and staffing limitations allow us to welcome only about 20 groups each spring and fall.

This year we had a new challenge – which would ultimately benefit park visitors and students – the Hoffmaster American Rescue Plan Act project.

In 2022, a total of $250 million in federal ARPA funding, part of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Building Michigan Together Plan, was made available to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to help address its long list of critical infrastructure, maintenance and other needs in state parks.

At Hoffmaster State Park, the first phase of improvements – including newly paved roads and parking lots, an improved beach road shoulder for pedestrian and bike traffic, the addition of speed bumps and two lanes for inbound traffic, and a partially completed bike path just inside the park entrance – just wrapped up.

The day-use side of the park, which reopened July 7, had to close in early April for these planned improvements. 

One would think that the loss of access would mean no school groups, but before the January sign-up window, we had a plan in place for the show to go on!

Ottawa County Parks graciously gave us permission to move our school group programs to North Beach Park in Ferrysburg. This site does not have a visitor center, but it has a beach, dune climb stairway, back-dune forest trail and modern restroom facilities. 

“Many of the teachers have been taking their students to Hoffmaster for years,” said Theresa Neal, acting interpretive manager for the DNR’s Education Services Section. “We were able to provide the same high-quality program in a similar environment that was safe and accessible for the kids.”

Despite some weather issues and bus driver shortages in the Grand Rapids Public Schools district, the Gillette Visitor Center staff taught more than 1,280 students this spring about public parks and Michigan sand dunes. Most of the students had never laid eyes on Lake Michigan or a sand dune before their field trip.

That is the reward – to give these children an experience they won’t soon forget in a world-class resource that belongs to them. The smiles and squeals of joy melt your heart, as do all the thank-you’s the kids share. They are genuinely grateful for the opportunity.

Everyone should have the chance to climb a sand dune and stick their feet in Lake Michigan.

With the first phase of construction completed at Hoffmaster, the park’s modern campground is now closed through the end of the 2023 camping season to upgrade water and sewer lines, reconstruct campground roads and complete the bike path. Renovations of the day-use toilet facility and Gillette Visitor Center are slated for 2024 or later.

At another DNR visitor center across the state, staff has also had to work around ARPA construction.

The Saginaw Bay Visitor Center at Bay City State Park closed its doors Oct. 1, 2022, to begin demolition on the interior of the building.

Interpretive staff swapped their hiking packs for hammers, tearing down old exhibits while carefully storing taxidermy mounts and artifacts for future displays.

Shortly afterward, the professional crew came in to remove everything that was left – flooring, lighting, electrical – to provide a clean slate for the new plans to unfold.

The work entails substantial renovations to the interior and exterior, including the reception area and exhibit hall, new roof and siding, and the addition of a new science lab. 

Named after George Birney Jennison, the original Jennison Trailside Nature Center at Bay City was built in 1950.

It was renovated in 1995, including restrooms and a large exhibit hall. Over the last 30 years, the displays have become outdated, and it became obvious the building needed some TLC.

However, just because the visitor center has been closed does not mean the programming has stopped. Over 5,000 K-12 students have had an interpreter-led experience at the park or in their classroom since the visitor center closed.

Whether it’s fishing from the dock or walking through the marsh, programs continue to connect visitors with the amazing coastal wetland that makes Bay City State Park so special.

Bay City and Hoffmaster are not the only state parks with visitor centers that are getting a makeover.

The Hartwick Pines Visitor Center, the Eddy Discovery Center in Waterloo Recreation Area the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park Visitor Center are all in design phases, with expected reconstruction to begin in the next two years.

The interpretive program at each of these sites is more than a building. It’s led by flexible, dedicated and experienced staff.

The show always goes on.

Learn more about the DNR’s 12 visitor centers, located at state parks and fish hatcheries across the state, at Michigan.gov/DNRVisitorCenters.

For more information about the American Rescue Plan Act-funded improvements at state parks, visit Michigan.gov/StateParksProgress.