Hobbs park reports rise in astronomy program attendance

Astronomy events at Hobbs State Park and Conservation Area in Rogers have averaged about 99 attendees during the past seven years, according to data recently compiled by the park staff.

Hobbs hosts and helps promote the events, of which there are four to seven each year, and the Sugar Creek Astronomical Society of Bella Vista provides powerful telescopes for the public to look through, in addition to instructional lectures.

So far this year, the average attendance of the events is 177, increasing 269% since 2010, park interpreter Steve Chyrchel wrote in a Hobbs email newsletter.

Participation hovered around the 100 mark between 2012 and 2015, according to the email.

Chyrchel wrote that he compiled the data after a request from the Astronomical Society.

He had never examined attendance trends for the programs and was surprised by the results, he said.

“It’s an exceptionally positive example of a long-term partnership between an Arkansas State Park and the private sector that is free and benefits all ages of the public. It’s also an example of state tax dollars well spent,” he wrote.

At 12,056 acres, Hobbs is the largest state park in Arkansas, according to the state parks website.

It is located between Beaver Lake and War Eagle Creek, and the landscape consists of a wide array of features plateaus, ridges, valleys, sinkholes and streams, in addition to forest with oak, hickory and pine trees, according to the website.