After a major make-over, a popular state park in eastern Iowa is ready to open on time in the spring. Last week, staff of the Maquoketa Caves State Park, and a park friends group, held a public meeting to talk about the improvements.
Iowa DNR Natural Resources Technician Ryland Richards says the park was closed for four months last year.
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"The reason we shut down and did all the work was just because a lot of the facilities and stuff were getting old and outdated, so we wanted to upgrade stuff."
Richards says they re-built the road, updated the campground, installed new lights, and re-built all the wooden boardwalks.
And when the park finally re-opened last August, people flooded in for the rest of the season - through mid-October. He says Maquoketa Caves State Park averages 350,000 visitors a year, with about 1,500 a day on weekends, April through October.