Navigating a holiday weekend

This past weekend was a holiday weekend, Martin Luther King Jr Day was on Monday, so that meant we had a surplus of visitors the park this weekend. Since the shuttles are not running during this time of the. Season, canyon ops is directing traffic past canyon junction. Usually, the shuttle buses are transporting people up and down the canyon with ease. Since our parking is limited, it allows many visitors to enjoy the entirety of the park without traffic congestions. However, during the off season, they stop running and visitors can drive all the way up to the temple of Sinowava. This past weekend we saw and large influx of visitors. Our parking spots up the scenic drive were filled early in the morning on Saturday. Around noon the line to enter the park was halfway through the town of Springdale. The line of cars followed for about 3 miles and had no end in sight. Not only are people paying fees at the entrance booth, but now with several changes made, visitors have lots of questions before entering the park. Although that is surplus is great for the park, it does disrupt the functionality of the town, so eventually the line had to be flushed. The town of Springdale let the park know the line was disrupting the flow of traffic in town. Within minutes the line began to dissipate. Although the scenic drive was closed, and going up meant having to walk the entire 9 miles, they park waived all fees of entrance and le the line in. this was done to relieve the strain it was causing it Springdale. Since starting at ZNP, I had not seen it so busy, at least in the entrance area, nor did I know the procedure for it.