Highlighting a Fantastic Year in Forest Park
Highlighting a Fantastic Year in Forest Park
Helping the Park, Helping Visitors
In 2016, Forest Park Forever had 1,667 volunteers supporting our organization's efforts — a 37% increase over 2015 and our biggest year ever. This group put in 14,147 hours of service for a total value of $333,303.
During 2016, a total of 26,500 Park visitors were assisted at the Dennis & Judith Jones Visitor and Education Center information desk and by our Forest Park Ambassadors.
This past year, the Dennis & Judith Jones Visitor and Education Center alone welcomed people from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and more than 90 countries — from Nigeria to Sweden, Turkey to Japan, Iraq to Iceland. We are so proud to welcome these global citizens and give them a fantastic impression of our city, state, region and country.
During 2016, nearly 54,000 individual users brought up Forestparkmap.org on their phones, tablets and PCs to prepare for their trip and enjoy it once they were onsite. Total page views: 95,000 during 68,600 sessions. Mobile usage was 47%, with desktop coming in at 45%. (This is one reason we made this as an all-devices web app and not a strictly iOS/Android app. Tens of thousands of people want to use this resource on a PC before they're actually here.)
Our free Visitors Guide & Map — available at the Dennis & Judith Jones Visitor and Education Center, among other places — helped nearly 35,000 individuals and groups navigate and enjoy the Park.
Thanks to the 50,000 riders who used the Forest Park Trolley during 2016 and navigated the Park in a fun, sustainable way. The Trolley is a partnership between Forest Park Forever, Metro, Missouri History Museum, Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis Science Center, Saint Louis Zoo and the City of St. Louis.
During 2016, our volunteers led 19 tours of Forest Park, guiding more than 300 visitors through the Park's history and highlights.