Attendance at Ark Encounter has dipped down once again, compared to the same period last year, after several months of increased sales.

Thanks to a public record request by local paleontologist Dan Phelps, we now have the numbers for November. You can read more background about how it’s calculated here.

The bottom line? Ark Encounter had 37,686 paying visitors in November. That’s a bit less than the 40,193 they had last November.

Here are all the attendance numbers we know along with the Safety Fee that Answers in Genesis has paid to the city of Williamstown. (The public nature of that fee is how we know the attendance numbers at all.)









Month 2017 (Fee) 2018 (Fee) 2019 (Fee) Notes January 13,250 ($6,625.00) 14,885 ($7,442.50) (Increase from previous year: 1,635) February 17,961 ($8,980.50) 16,328 ($8,164.00) (Drop from previous year: 1,633) March 62,251 ($31,125.50) 70,466 ($35,233.00) (Increase from previous year: 8,215) April 67,613 ($33,806.50) 79,908 ($39,954.00) (Increase from previous year: 12,295) May 73,353 ($36,676.50) 90,803 ($45,401.50) (Increase from previous year: 17,450) June 113,901 ($56,950.50) 124,230 ($62,115.00) (Increase from previous year: 10,329) July 142,626 ($71,313.00) 135,922 ($67,961.00) 160,124 ($80,062.00) (Increase from previous year: 24,202) August 106,161 ($53,080.50) 98,106 ($49,053.00) 104,350 ($52,175.00) (Increase from previous year: 6,244) September 83,330 ($41,665.00) 69,207 ($34,603.50) 73,541 ($36,770.50) (Increase from previous year: 4,334) October 93,659 ($46,829.50) 89,434 ($44,717.00) 86,988 ($43,494.00) (Drop from previous year: 2,446) November 51,914 ($25,957.00) 40,193 ($20,096.50) 37,686 ($18,881.00) (Drop from previous year: 2,507) December 36,472 ($18,236.00) 46,400 ($24,200.00) (Increase from previous year: 9,928)





Are Creationists freaking out about this? Who knows. They’re used to pretending small numbers represent enormous ones.

Keep in mind all of this is happening as Ark Encounter is dealing with a (hilarious) million-dollar lawsuit involving rain damage.

Ham may have forestalled a catastrophic drop, but it’s likely due to factors that have nothing to do with interest in a biblical myth. The warm weather certainly helps. So does the brand new conference center on the premises that allows thousands of people to visit the park in one fell swoop. There’s also a playground and petting zoo. They’ve also been advertising on Facebook and on FOX News. All of that requires a lot of money; the question is whether the investment is worth it in the long run.

Remember that actual attendance is higher than these numbers represent because kids get in for free, as do members with lifetime passes. But giving away freebies to children and life members doesn’t help the local economy as much as drawing in first-time customers who are ready to spend money or conference attendees who are there for another reason.

(Large portions of this article were published earlier)

