KANAB, Utah — The ongoing rockfall cleanup in Zion National Park continues to impact the livelihoods of people in surrounding towns, including in Kanab.
Waitress Ela Escobar grew up in restaurants.
"I love the restaurant industry; my father actually raised me in his own business," she said
Escobar doesn't just put food on the tables for families in downtown Kanab. The mother of a young daughter does it for herself as well. So when the rockfall cut off a crucial connection to Wild Thyme Bistro in Kanab, where she works, that's a hit to her livelihood.
"When it's busy on the other side of Springdale but it's slow on this side, it does affect us. We depend on this. We depend on our tourist people," she said.
Video below shows aftermath of Zion National Park rockfall (Janelle Scheible Collins):
Since the rockfall occurred on September 30, the Zion Mt. Carmel Highway has been closed, cutting off traffic between the park and other communities like Kanab.
Wild Thyme Bistro owner Tom Avant understands the economic impact of the rockfall split, as he has restaurants on both sides.
"...with the road closure we're actually seeing it increase in Springdale and decrease here," Avant said.
But there's hope for clearing with new information straight from the Kane County Sheriff and the county's tourism director.
"Starting tomorrow, Tuesday morning, they're going to open the east side of the park," said tourism director Janette Peatross. "You'll be able to go down through the tunnel and a few of the switchbacks, and they'll have a turnaround location in the switchbacks there so you'll be able to go down and enjoy the park."
Cars won't be able to fully drive through, which comes at peak season for Kanab tourism to fully stock up for the winter.
"Another hit for us in tourism with the Grand Canyon fire last year, and we've been dealing with that all summer and things were just starting to ramp up tourism-wise; it's a huge hit for us," Peatross said.
Kane County announced on social media it could take two weeks for cleanup to be complete, keeping a full flow of tourism traffic out of Kanab and leaving people like Ela uncertain and making adjustments.
"We gotta know the seasons, right?" she said, "because you do have to budget correctly."