Acadia National Park to kick-off centennial
PHOTO CREDIT / LORI VALIGRA
Acadia National Park will be celebrating its centennial with events planned throughout the year.
Acadia National Park, Friends of Acadia and the Acadia Centennial Partners have a year of statewide events planned to celebrate the park’s centennial.
The centennial officially gets underway Jan. 25, with an old-fashioned, baked-bean supper sponsored by the Mount Desert Island Historical Society, the Mount Desert Islander reported.
The celebration aims to highlight the previous hundred years of world-class conservation at the park and inspire and launch the next hundred years of stewardship of Acadia, according to the Acadia Centennial 2016’s website.
Acadia’s official “birthday” is July 8, 2016. Throughout 2016, there will be lectures, exhibits, publications, films and commemorative products produced by businesses and artisans from Acadia’s surrounding communities.
The centerpiece of the kickoff event will be the premier of a half-hour film, “Acadia Centennial 2016: Celebrate our Past, Inspire our Future,” featuring interviews with seasonal and year-round residents who share their personal connection to the park, interspersed with park imagery.
Acadia has been an increasingly popular destination in recent years. The recession prompted many people to take vacations within driving distance of their homes, and Acadia is within reach of huge population centers in the Northeast. The cruise ship industry has grown in Bar Harbor, where passengers hop on buses for excursions into the park. Acadia also was featured in a segment in the 2009 Ken Burns' documentary series about the park service, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea."
A year later, a visit by President Obama and his family generated interest in the park from around the world. More recently, it was named "America's Favorite Place" by ABC's "Good Morning America," and it's regularly featured on the "top 10" lists. Acadia is the park service's ninth most-visited park, yet in size, at 47,000 acres, barely makes the top 50.
Its popularity has resulted in congestion problems that are currently under study.
In 2014, Acadia had 2.56 million visitors, making it one of the park's top years.
Acadia’s centennial coincides with that of the National Park Service.
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