Last weekend, I went with my student research team to Mammoth Caves, Kentucky. This trip was both extremely informative and productive, but was also extremely fun and cool. Our trip gave us many helpful insights to the effects of the pandemic and national park on businesses. Not only was it extremely enlightening, but it was fun and interesting as well. To tour caves and interview park rangers, as well as interview restaurant owners while eating their food was an extremely pleasant experience. All the business owners we interviewed were extremely friendly and willing to help. - Michael Whiteside
From March 18-20, me and my team visited Mammoth Cave national park in Kentucky and the surrounding area for SIBC. Our purpose was to find how the past few years with COVID impacted the businesses in the area. We interviewed by phone or in person ~22 different businesses. We also interviewed rangers from the national park itself. We made many interesting discoveries from our answers. The two answers that were consistent amongst almost all of these businesses were the wildly different fluctuations over the past two years. For the first few months after the lockdown hit, many businesses were hit rough due to lack of traveling tourists and the lockdown itself. However, once everything began to open back up, these businesses experienced a surge in customers, in most cases the highest they've gotten in decades. The other question consistent across the board that stood out to me was the lack of employee hiring and retainment in most of these establishments despite the return to normal business. Some local businesses were able to negate or alleviate this factor since they were family owned but other businesses are hit hard by the lack of finding employees or keeping current ones. This trip allowed me to grow as a person in many ways. I discovered a part of the country I did not really know about beforehand; Kentucky’s caves and the hospitality of the people will always stick with me. It also gave me valuable business experience. I am more comfortable to ask business related questions to others; the eagerness of these local business owners to talk to us surprised me. Overall, I believe this trip, while short and busy, allowed me to grow in many ways as a person gaining infinite business experience and valuable personal memories. -Nathan Meiers
My experience doing research at Mammoth Caves National Park was a very enjoyable experience. I love getting the opportunity to visit new places and get new experiences. I was very impressed with how the town worked in such an elegant cooperation; each business knew that their success depended on the success of the other and it was because of this that they chose to work together and bring each other up. When looking at our moto “peace through commerce” I believe that Cave City KY puts this statement into full use, and it is because of this they thrive as a city and as a community. -Thomas Kai
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