I recently wrote about the National Park Service’s closing the only privately funded National Park in the country. Now, it turns out the Claude Moore Colonial Farm’s forced shutdown has already cost the beloved site a pretty penny.
Anna Eberly, Managing Director of the private farm, sent this email to supporters Thursday regarding the closure’s immediate effects.
The reason that it is so important that we remain open is because of the income we receive from Pavilion rentals, admissions, sales and program fees. We have had to cancel every event at the Farm this week so we have already lost more than $15,000 in operating income because October is the busiest month of the year for us. When the Federal government reopens, as it inevitably will, they will be funded by all of us. The Farm may never reopen again if we cannot open soon because we don't have any other source of revenue except that which we earn for ourselves.
The staff has been here all week in spite of being threatened with arrest because we feel our cause is just and the Farm is worth protecting. And many of our volunteers are Federal employees that now have time on their hands. They could be here volunteering but are banned from the Farm. What an incredibly stupid waste of time and talent.
Eberly, speaking on behalf of the farm, believes the NPS has closed the park down illegally, considering they stopped receiving funding from the government agency in 1981.
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