In an interview with Invest:, Veronica Frehm, CEO of Friends of MacArthur Beach State Park, talked about key milestones achieved by the park in the past year, including an increase in visitors and visitor services, the resumption of in-person educational programs for students and teachers, and the expansion of kayak and paddle board offerings.
What have been some key milestones for the park from the past 12 months?
The last 12 months have been exciting for the park because after an unpredictable two years from the pandemic we are back better than ever with more visitors and more visitor services. Our education programs are serving 1st – 12th grade students in person at the park again, our summer camp programs are thriving, teacher professional development programs continue to be offered and we also have expanded our recreation offerings to include a new and larger kayak fleet and additional paddleboard activities such as yoga and moonlight paddling. After a 2-year hiatus our annual outdoor festival returned in March welcoming a record number of visitors to bring the community together and celebrate all the park has to offer. Everything we do at Friends of MacArthur Beach State Park is motivated by our mission to preserve the Park for present and future generations and over the past year, we have endeavored to make John D. MacArthur Beach State Park, the only State Park in Palm Beach County, the best it can be.
What is included in your educational opportunities?
Our environmental education programs are our flagship programs here. Approximately 5,000 students attend field experiences at the Park every year and they learn in our living laboratory through hands-on experiences, where they are reinforcing all the concepts they learned in school.They are using tools to collect data to analyze and feel what it is like to go through the scientific steps. Our goal is to instill an understanding of and appreciation for coastal southeast Florida’s plant and animal communities, natural resources, and foster good stewardship.
What makes the county a great place to live, work and play?
The county is incredible for different reasons. A lot of people come for leisure and the beaches, which is great but it is also very family friendly with a lot of things for everyone to do and MacArthur beach is no different, we are a great family destination. There is so much for kids to explore whether it’s swimming in the ocean, kayaking in the estuary, or walking the nature trails. There are also organized activities which include a scavenger hunt (in the Nature Center) and Ranger-led programs such as snake talks or bird watching with a Ranger. We were named the best beach in Palm Beach County by the Palm Beach Post, and that was voted on by readers, so that is exciting and has led to an uptick in visitors. Sea turtles are a big part of our park with the conservation efforts we do here as well, and this summer we have expanded our evening guided turtle walks. Our beach is a protected preserve, so we have a very healthy ecosystem here. Our 1.6 miles of beach is extremely populated by sea turtles and we have over 3,000 sea turtles on average lay their eggs on our beach. That is another amazing piece as to why people come here.
How is the park a value add to the community?
We offer so many different opportunities for visitors. Visitors come year-round to take advantage of our ecotourism, beachfront and kayaking and paddle-board options, along with our public and environmental programs. Based on Fiscal Year 2021-2022 data, a total of 32,145,083 Florida residents and visitors enjoyed our award-winning system of state parks and trails. Over 150,000 of those visits were to John D. MacArthur Beach State Park, Palm Beach County’s only state park. This year the estimated total economic impact of MacArthur Beach State Parks is $18.9 Million in direct economic impact, generating over $1.2 Million in increased sales tax revenue. In addition, 266 jobs were supported locally by our park operations. The implication of this data is that for every 1,000 persons visiting a state park in Florida, the total direct impact on the local community is approximately $123,619.
We have internship programs that allow undergraduate and graduate students to be an intern here and learn what it means to run a non-profit, work in the park service and work with animal ambassadors including sea turtles. Our Park provides a sanctuary for local residents to get away, when you drive in it feels like a different world, our 436 acres of preserved land is almost exactly as it was hundreds of years ago. We want to give every person access to this resource and the ability to experience new things. The beach should be for everyone, and thanks to our three beach wheelchairs and ADA Tram all park guests can enjoy the sand and sea at our ADA-friendly beach. The park received an Americans with Disabilities Act accessible electric tram to transport guests to the beach accessible wheelchairs at the park. The tram can fit up to six people in it and has a deck and ramp perfectly designed for a wheelchair to board. It was gifted to MacArthur through a grant from Florida Power & Light Co. and is built to travel the terrain of the trails and boardwalk that wind through MacArthur’s mangrove estuary and beach. The park’s WaterWheels floating beach wheelchairs were donated by the State Parks Foundation and the Surfing’s Evolution & Preservation Foundation. Now, up to three wheelchair-using guests at a time can enjoy the park’s popular beach, and even swim, with the addition of the new water-friendly wheelchairs.
What are some marketing strategies you have been implementing?
We are trying to get back into the community now that more of our programs are up and running again. We send out monthly newsletters that highlight activities going on, and our social media is extremely active. Our website is updated daily to keep everyone informed, but it is really about being connected to the community. We work hard to make sure our partners know what is going on and how we can better facilitate benefiting everyone. We want people to utilize the park as much as possible.
How is the significance of your internship programs?
Our internship program is one of my favorite things we do here because of the results we see. We are focused on providing real world skills to these young professionals. Over the last 10 years, the internship program at MacBeach has hosted 70 undergraduate and graduate students from colleges and universities across the country. Students have the unique opportunity to live onsite and gain hands-on experience in the areas of environmental education, park management, and learn what it means to work at and run a nonprofit. When you graduate college, there are not many resume builders so our program is designed to give students just that. We believe that our internship program should be more than a resume builder, it is an opportunity to gain real life skills in an immersive environment. Our interns aren’t getting coffee and making copies, they are teaching the future generations how important it is to be a good steward, they are helping take care of our animal ambassadors, learning about resource management, and they are experiencing the importance of teamwork. We always say that figuring out this isn’t for you is a win as well because it will give you a clearer vision of your path. We are fortunate to have internship housing on site for a couple of interns each semester which is incredible as finding a place to live can be hard in this area for a young person likely still in college. We advertise all over the country and have had interns go on to continue working in environmental agencies and other parks, so it has developed a great reputation.
What do you think the tourism industry needs to improve on to better attract people to the sector?
We are fortunate to have a strong visitor bureau in Palm Beach that helps us get the word out about our unique opportunities as well as a few other organizations that are partners of ours. Being the only state park, we have great advocates for us. We have had a long history of over 150,000 visitors annually, and obviously that went down a bit when COVID began, but shortly thereafter people were actively seeking the benefits of being outdoors and it was incredible seeing people enjoy the park.
Where do you see the park and the county’s tourism sector as a whole going in the future?
It is exciting to think about where we will go, but we are always thinking ahead and I think the growth we have seen will continue. We have more visitor services we are planning to offer, but we will also continue our outreach into our local communities. We want people to utilize the park as much as possible.
We have an amazing board of directors and staff that are always working to make the park the best it can be. We are really in an exciting stage of growth and are thrilled to have more opportunities to add to our programs and give back to the community.
