Starved Rock State Park could have record year

UTICA, Ill. — Attendance at Starved Rock State Park in northern Illinois could reach a record nearly 2.2 million this year.

The News-Tribune in LaSalle reports park officials have released attendance figures through Sept. 30. Those numbers show the park is on pace for an all-time high 2,197,000 visitors this year. It would be the fifth time the park has had more than 2 million visitors in the last 30 years.

Statistics show January was an especially strong month. There were nearly 155,000 visitors because of bald eagle watching.

Starved Rock State Park has averaged 1.6 million visitors a year since the early 1980s. There have been more than 2 million visitors in 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2010. The record came in 2004, when the park had 2,122,422 visitors.