SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- The San Diego Air & Space Museum was one of several popular destinations at Balboa Park to reopen on Wednesday as San Diego County officially entered the state’s red tier.
Peter Comiskey, executive director of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, said he is hopeful the reopening of Balboa Park’s venues will be the last.
Comiskey told ABC 10News the pandemic has taken a toll on the businesses and cultural organizations that call Balboa Park home, and there is now a concerted effort being made to bring back most staff members who were either laid off or furloughed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
While many outdoor attractions such as the Japanese Friendship Garden, the San Diego Zoo, and Spanish Village have been open in some fashion throughout much of the pandemic, the museums anchor the park's revitalization, both financial and emotional.
Comiskey said the museums are also small businesses, but that they also bring a "mission driven goal ... that they are the core of what will become a recovery for our mental health sector."
He added that there needs to be support for those organizations going forward.
Many have stretched creatively into new virtual spaces, reaching, in some cases, much broader, global audiences.
"With that said, nothing replaces the experience of people coming to a museum in Balboa Park,” Comiskey said.
The website www.culturalpartnership.org is the landing page for all Balboa Park reopenings, updates and safety protocols.
