ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine — Morning television viewers nationwide had the chance Thursday morning to get a glimpse of Maine’s only national park, thanks to the 100th anniversary of Acadia and of the National Park Service.
A television crew from NBC News was in the park by Ocean Drive, between Thunder Hole and Otter Cliffs, so network meteorologist Dylan Dreyer could do national weather reports from Acadia every half-hour on the “Today” show. Six production vehicles, including a satellite truck, were parked on Ocean Drive while Dreyer and several production crew members and their equipment were set up on the rocks overlooking the ocean.
The weather certainly cooperated for the live shoot, as did a few fishermen. Temperatures Thursday morning were in the 50s, and no clouds were in the sky as the sun shone brightly and lobstermen hauled traps in the background.
Dryer also had a face-to-face interview with Will Shafroth of the National Park Foundation while standing on the rocky shore.
Dreyer and Sheinelle Jones, another NBC correspondent, spent a few days this week in Acadia, visiting sites and recording their outings for a segment that aired on the program Thursday morning.
They went bicycling on the park’s carriage roads, tipping over on their tandem bike at one point; kayaked on Jordan Pond; watched the sun rise from the top of Cadillac Mountain; and went on a ride on Lulu the lobster boat. They also ate popovers at the Jordan Pond House restaurant inside the park and dined at Beal’s Lobster Pier in Southwest Harbor.
John Kelly, spokesman for the park, said the “Today” show has broadcast live this week from other parks around the country to draw attention to the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service which, like Acadia, was founded in 1916. Other parks visited by the network were Carlsbad Caverns National Park and White Sands National Monument in New Mexico; Biscayne and Dry Tortugas national parks in Florida; and Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, which is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Other networks have been to Acadia in recent years. In January, the CBS program “ Sunday Morning” visited Acadia to film a segment about the park service’s 100th anniversary. In 2014, ABC’s “Good Morning America” broadcast a live segment from the Jordan Pond House after its viewers picked Acadia as America’s Favorite Place.
The “Today” show previously visited Acadia in 2010, when Jenna Bush Hager, daughter of former President George W. Bush, broadcast a live segment from the same location off Ocean Drive, where it was set up on Thursday.
