Starting Monday, Nov. 9, most of Banning State Park in Sandstone will close to the public as construction begins on important accessibility updates in day-use areas of the park and continues in the park’s campground. 

“Our annual visitation has tripled since 2020. We love sharing Banning with so many people, but our current park infrastructure is really straining to support those numbers,” said Clarissa Payne, Banning State Park supervisor. “The improvement projects will expand our capacity and improve the visitor experience.”

The day-use area project will upgrade amenities, including:

• Accessible picnic areas
• An expansion of the current parking lot and an additional parking lot at one of the trail crossings
• Improved accessibility on trails and in parking areas
• New accessible vault toilets
• Accessible water spigots

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources closed the park’s campground on  Sept. 8 (mndnr.gov/news) to initiate work on that project, which includes replacement of the existing shower facility and upgrades to several campsites to improve accessibility for campers.

To protect visitor safety during this extensive construction work, most recreation opportunities at Banning State Park will close to the public starting Nov. 9. The designated snowmobile trail on the north and west sides of the park will remain open, although no trail parking will be available in the park. The Eldon climbing area will also remain open, with parking available on the south end of the park in Sandstone. While the public water access on the Kettle River within the state park will be closed during construction, boaters and paddlers can continue to use nearby public water accesses to access the river, including the one on the north end of the park at Highway 23 and the landing at Robinson Quarry Park in Sandstone, just south of Banning State Park.

The day-use area is planned to reopen in October 2027. The campground will reopen in May 2028. The Minnesota DNR will look for opportunities to open portions of the park for day use in summer 2027 as construction activities allow. Visitors should always check the visitor alerts on the park webpage (mndnr.gov/banning) before visiting for the latest information.

“We appreciate the public’s patience during this construction closure, and we look forward to sharing these park improvements with visitors when construction is complete,” Payne said.

Construction updates can be found at mndnr.gov/state-parks/banning-state-park-construction.html.

Day-use area improvements are made possible with $500,000 in Get Out MORE (Modernize Outdoor Recreation Experiences) funding. The campground project is funded with $2 million from the Parks and Trails Legacy Fund.