Popovers unlimited

If you’ve eaten popovers and strawberry jam on the broad lawn overlooking Jordan Pond…

If you’ve had dinner in the old wooden Jordan Pond House that burned down in 1979 or in its brick successor that stands there now…

If you’ve bought knickknacks in one of the gift shops in Acadia National Park…

If you’ve ever taken a carriage or horseback ride out of Wildwood Stables over the park’s network of carriage roads…

If you have enjoyed any of those experiences, be prepared for a possible change. The Acadia Corp., which has operated the food services and gift shops as a “preferred offerer” ever since the Rockefellers gave Jordan Pond House to the park in the mid-1940s, will have competition for a 10-year contract starting next year.

And Wildwood Stables, which Ed Winterberg has operated since the mid-1980s without any competition, now must submit to competitive bidding for a new seven-year contract. After a dispute over whether his Kentucky Carriage and Livery Inc. was licensed in Maine, he has been operating for two years under a nonrenewable contract pending the start of a bidding system.

Both Winterberg, now properly licensed in Maine, and David Whiteside, president and general manager of the Acadia Corp., plan to apply for long-term contracts. Bids are due by Sept. 18. In earlier times, when the season lasted only three months and the park had far fewer visitors, hardly any other outfits wanted to tackle the Acadia National Park concessions. Visitors now start coming in May and continue into October. In the past 40 years, the number who have gone through the entrance station has soared from 755,000 to nearly 3 million a year.

Revenues at the restaurant, gift shops and riding stable have risen, too. The Acadia Corp. had gross revenues of $3,779,889 last year, of which $240,292 went to the park in building rentals and a 3 percent franchise fee. The corporation also paid about $50,000 for insurance and maintenance. Wildwood Stables took in $235,737 last year and paid $8,729 to the park.

Pressure mounted for a change from virtually automatic renewals in all the national parks. After 15 years of argument and discussion, Congress in 1998 enacted a law requiring competitive bidding in all of the parks as current contracts ran out. Sales space in gift shops on Cadillac Mountain and at Thunder Hole will be limited in favor of more emphasis on information for visitors. Spirited competition is expected from firms that operate nationally in other national parks.

Change has been a long time coming. Competition may bring some improvements, and it could increase revenues to the parks, including Acadia. But let’s hope the popovers and strawberry jam go on forever.