On Friday (May 1) campgrounds at Arkansas State Parks will reopen to RV campers and two weeks after that is the target date for state park lodges and cabins to reopen, some of which are already booked for the rest of May, according to News 5.
It hasn’t been announced when traditional camping will be allowed again.
“We made those reservations at Devil’s Den almost a year ago now and it’s just a big thing for us every year with this big group of friends that we all go up there and we are bummed out that it might not happen,” camper Phillip Faucette said.
Faucette says it’s easy to social distance while camping and he hopes they are able to continue their Memorial Day family tradition this year.
“I would think that if they can open up their restaurants and other buildings and things that they could let us use the restrooms or open those up and somehow manage that in a safe way for everybody,” he said.
Meg Matthews, deputy chief of communications for the Arkansas Department of Parks, says Memorial Day is the traditional kickoff to state parks summer season, but they don’t know yet if they’ll be able to open back up to traditional campers.
“We are working as hard as we can to make sure that we can get all of our visitors and employees are safe when people are at the park,” Mattews said. “So, we are examining that situation and we’ll make a determination in the very near future.”
Several of the cabins and lodges at state parks in our area are already booked from the time they reopen through the month of May.
