Feds announce major jump in visits to Paterson's Great Falls

PATERSON – Federal officials this week announced that the number of people who visited the national park at Paterson’s Great Falls jumped by more than 70 percent last year.

The Great Falls hosted about 308,000 visitors in 2017, compared to 177,000 the previous year, according to a release from the National Park Service. The 2017 attendance figure amounts to about 840 visitors per day.

Officials said the 2017 numbers were boosted by visitors who came to Paterson for events involving the city’s 225th anniversary, along with an “Eclipse Party” in August, an asphalt art competition and a science expo. Federal officials reported record attendance despite the fact that the Overlook section of the park has been closed since September for a renovation project.

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The park’s superintendent, Darren Boch, acknowledged that calculating the number of visitors to the Great Falls is more challenging than doing so at other national parks. The Grand Canyon, for example, has gatehouses through which visitors arrive, while the Statue of Liberty staff can simply count ferry tickets.

The Great Falls park straddles both sides of the Passaic River in the area around the waterfall. Boch said the Great Falls staff used a variety of methods to come up with the 308,000 visitation figure, including tire counters at the Overlook Park parking area, sign-in sheets at the Welcome Center, registration data for guided tours, and Paterson Museum attendance counts.

“I think our number is somewhat conservative,” said Boch.

The superintendent said he hoped the Overlook renovations, which are scheduled to be completed in the summer, will attract even more visitors.

“2017 was our first full year of gathering visitation numbers and we fully expected a substantial increase based on the attendance seen at park events and programs,” said Boch.

But Paterson City Councilman Michael Jackson, who represents the 1st Ward where the Great Falls is located, expressed skepticism about federal officials reports record visitation numbers.

“I don’t buy one bit of that,” Jackson said, asserting the tire counts at the parking lot would include such vehicles as city public works trucks that go to the site regularly.

Jackson repeatedly has questioned the investment of millions of dollars in federal, state, county and city funding at the Great Falls, arguing that the money could be better spent on parks and ballfields that he said would benefit Paterson children.

But other officials have hailed the national park as one of the keys to Paterson’s revitalization efforts. Advocates say that Paterson needs to parlay the tourism at the park into economic development. Among the biggest supporters has been Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. who sponsored the legislation almost 10 years ago that designated the Great Falls a national park.

“I am delighted by the growing popularity of the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park,” Pascrell said in a press release. “The cradle of the American industrial revolution, the Falls is one of the environmental crown jewels not just of New Jersey, but for the entire United States.”

After the Overlook renovation project is done, the National Park Service is planning the creation of a new “Great Lawn” down river from the waterfall. Officials also are attempting to raise money for a $20 million visitors center that would be located in a spot facing the Falls where a steam plant once operated.