Date: September 23, 2013
Contact: Jonathan Meade, Chief of Business Service, Northeast Regional Office, 215-597-9014
National Park Service (NPS) Northeast Regional Director Dennis Reidenbach has announced the selection of Dawnland, LLC to operate the Jordan Pond House restaurant, including the traditional tea and popovers on the lawn overlooking Jordan Pond and the Bubbles, and retail services at Jordan Pond House, Cadillac Mountain and Thunder Hole.
"We are excited to work with Dawnland, who will provide the exceptional services that visitors have come to expect at Acadia National Park," noted Reidenbach. "We also thank current concessioner Acadia Corporation for its role as a long-standing partner."
Dawnland's parent company, Ortega National Parks, LLC, has more than 45 years of hospitality experience and over 16 years' experience operating concessions in the National Park Service, including at Bandelier National Monument, White Sands, Muir Woods, Carlsbad Caverns, Death Valley and Gateway National Recreation Area.
Dawnland LLC, will provide the exceptional visitor services expected at Acadia, offering a wide selection of locally-sourced and sustainable food and beverage options, instituting new environmentally-friendly initiatives, and sourcing a high percentage of retail merchandise from local artists. Tea and popovers will remain a tradition at the Jordan Pond House.
This concession operates at three of the four most frequented sites within the park, providing visitors with the only food and beverage service in the park, as well as opportunities for visitors to take home a reminder of their Acadia experience. Each retail facility also serves as an information center about that location as well as the park as a whole, with interpretive exhibits, brochures and maps.
The new ten-year concession contract is authorized under the National Park Service Concessions Management Improvement Act of 1998 which requires a competitive process. The NPS concessions program manages commercial visitor services that are necessary and appropriate for public use and enjoyment at National Park sites. The NPS solicited offers for this contract through a prospectus which was publicly released in July 2012. A Northeast Region-led panel of National Park Service subject matter experts reviewed all proposals and, based on the criteria stated in the prospectus, selected Dawnland, LLC. The criteria and evaluation method are prescribed in the federal regulations that govern NPS concessions operations, 36 C.F.R. §51.16(a) and (b). It is expected the new contract becomes effective in March of 2014.
More information about visiting Acadia National Park can be found at https://www.nps.gov/acad/planyourvisit
To learn more about concessioner operations in the National Park Service visit https://www.concessions.nps.gov
