Sleeping Bear Dunes breaks August visitation record, on pace for record-breaking 2020

From staff reports

Nearly half a million visitors recreated in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in August (490,098 to be exact), setting a record for the month (the previous August high was 446,426 set in 2018). This was the second consecutive record-breaking month for Sleeping Bear visitation, after July saw 592,404 visitors, the Park’s highest ever monthly total.

Our National Lakeshore has welcomed nearly 1 million 422 thousand people through the proverbial turnstiles during the first eight months of 2020, putting us on track for Sleeping Bear’s busiest year ever. The record was set in 2016, when 1,683,553 visited. That mark is now just 262,000 heads away. Sleeping Bear is ahead of the 2016 pace by approximately 50,000, according to Park figures.

“We had a huge July and a huge August,” said deputy superintendent Tom Ulrich. “People are limited as to their options because of the pandemic. Getting outside is a good option. The Lakeshore provides a place you can go have fun, and social distance. And of course, we’ve had great weather this year.”

Ulrich said the Park’s campgrounds have been packed this summer, and they remain popular through the early Fall.

“Even if the next four months are roughly the same as in past years, we’ll set a new record and surpass 1.7 million for the first time.”

Ulrich said that, for the most part, visitors have a done a good job of social distancing—save for a few dicey moments his staff witnessed at popular Lake Michigan views such as Empire Bluff and the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive overlooks.

“The Lakeshore is big enough to accommodate big crowds during the pandemic,” said Ulrich. “Labor Day at the Dune Climb was as busy as people had ever seen it. But even with those kinds of numbers, it’s still a big place. People can spread out.”