Camping revenues soar at Middle Fork Preserve
MAHOMET – All of the predictions about recession-related "staycations" proved true this summer for the campground at the Champaign County Forest Preserve District's Middle Fork Preserve near Penfield.
Forest preserve board members learned Monday that campground revenue this year probably will be the highest in at least seven years, if not in the history of the park.
Through Sept. 30, the 65-site campground had taken in $36,775 in camping fees, far above the $29,122 reported in 2008 and almost as much as the $38,416 recorded in all of 2005.
With three months remaining in the calendar year, the campground is virtually assured of breaking the 2005 mark since historically, October camping revenue averages about $2,000.
"I can almost guarantee it will be a record. I haven't seen a year like this one in the five years I've been here," said Matthew Kuntz, site superintendent at the Middle Fork Preserve, about 30 miles northeast of Champaign-Urbana. "It was the busiest year I've seen."
Jerry Pagac, executive director of the forest preserve district, said he was glad that the agency recently had made improvements to the campgrounds.
"I'd like to think that our investment there has paid off," he said. "We made a major investment in our facilities there and, sure enough, we had people from virtually every state in the union stay there this summer."
Kuntz said there were campers from as far away as Alaska and Maine.
"But we also had a lot of people from Champaign County too," he said.
June and July are usually the busiest months at the campground, Kuntz said.
"After the Fourth of July, business usually starts to go down here," he said. "But we were fully booked for the next six weekends. It was textbook camping weather."
Figures provided to the forest preserve board showed that campground revenue was below normal for the first five months this year but has exceeded the monthly average since. In June it was close to $12,000.
Daily campsite rental fees are $10 to $20, depending on whether a site is reserved for a weekend or holiday and whether the site has electricity.
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