As the gentle autumn rain falls over the ponderosa pines near Grand Canyon National Park, a different atmosphere prevails inside Tusayan’s Plaza Bonita restaurant. Here, federal workers and their families enjoy a hearty meal of fried chicken, tamales, chips, and salsa, courtesy of the Grand Canyon Conservancy.
These complimentary gatherings have been a beacon of support for federal employees, many of whom resumed work only recently after enduring the longest government shutdown in history. Grand Canyon Conservancy CEO Elizabeth Silkes remarks, “This is one way for us to show our support when the community has really been suffering.”
The conservancy, the park’s non-profit ally, has organized these meals throughout November, welcoming residents of Tusayan and Grand Canyon Village, irrespective of their employment status. “We actually had 250 people at the last dinner,” Silkes notes. “What it tells us is people didn’t feel very valued who work in the park and the park communities. And a lot of this year has felt very personal.”
Social services in Grand Canyon Village are preparing for heightened demand as park employees grapple with uncertainty. The past year has been tumultuous for Grand Canyon National Park staff, with challenges including attempted mass layoffs and the Dragon Bravo Fire, which devastated the Grand Canyon Lodge.
During the recent 43-day shutdown, federal employees missed two paychecks, creating financial strains that permeated small communities like Tusayan. Javier Rosas, manager of Plaza Bonita, observed a noticeable decline in local patrons due to the furloughs. “Normally here with us, Thursday was a locals day [when] all locals inside the park used to come to us, but now with this shutdown, there was no Thursday,” Rosas explains. The conservancy’s dinners have brought back familiar faces, offering a semblance of normalcy.
Ashley Dickerson, a U.S. Department of the Interior employee at the Grand Canyon, shares a meal with a friend, reflecting on the shutdown’s broader impacts. “The impacts of stress on your mental health, on your physical health, on your relationships with family and friends as they’re checking in and trying to figure out, ‘Are you going to be moving back home in a month because, you know, have they fired you yet?’” she says.
Approximately 40,000 Interior Department employees, including many from the National Park Service, were furloughed during the shutdown, with an unclear number from the nearly 500 Grand Canyon employees affected. Families of these workers also felt the strain, as Elijah and Wyatt Gibson, whose father was furloughed, explain. “He’s been spending a lot of days not going to work, and money’s been a little tight,” Elijah shares.
Cassidy Gibson, their mother, recounts the financial toll. “We were able to tap into some savings, but we had to use more than we’d like, definitely more than we’d like. So it was hard. You know, that’s our livelihood,” she says.
Grand Canyon National Park employees intend to file union paperwork with the Federal Labor Relations Board as a response to the Trump administration’s cuts, reflecting a broader movement among park workers in the West.
For other employees like Kim Acker, who faced a severe medical emergency shortly after the shutdown began, the financial uncertainty has been daunting. “I essentially ended up with a large blood clot in my brain,” she explains, pondering the feasibility of federal employment given her mounting medical bills. She fears another potential shutdown in early next year, as the current budget resolution is temporary.
Acker acknowledges the support from the Grand Canyon Conservancy’s events but remains anxious about the future. “In another month or two, are we going to be without paychecks again?” she wonders. “And to be literally told that we don’t matter, and we’re not important, and that we’re low productivity, I mean, why would I want to work for something like that?”
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