Say it isn’t so! First they tear down my beloved 50s-era buildings to build an edutainment complex, and now they want to charge an entrance fee! Boo! Hiss!
From the Gettysburg Times:
Financial goals have not been reached at the new $103 million Gettysburg Battlefield Visitor Center, so the non-profit group that’s operating the complex is introducing a new fee structure. Beginning in October, a fee may be imposed upon visitors entering the park’s artifact museum.
“We’ve tried just about everything,” park Supt. Dr. John A. Latschar said Thursday morning during a media conference at the visitor center. “We’re just not meeting the goals and hitting our numbers. Nothing was working, so we came to a conclusion that the best thing we could do is change the fee structure.”
The Gettysburg Foundation, which partnered with the park to build the facility and intends to operate the complex for 20 years, is proposing a $7.50 single admission fee to tour the museum galleries, watch a 22-minute feature film and view the Cyclorama painting.
“I think this will be a plus for the majority of our visitors, and overall, a better experience,” said Gettysburg Foundation President Robert C. Wilburn. “We’re giving people more options, and we’ve put together a good package that’s affordable.”
Under the current fee structure, the park and Foundation expected to lose $1.78 million annually from film and Cyclorama ticket sales. The facility opened in mid-April.
“We’ve been open now for about five months,” said Wilburn. “It was a good shakedown period…to see how visitors were reacting to what we were offering.
Now, we know the trends and we can adjust our packages.”
