CHARLOTTE -- It's the 4th of July weekend, but you wouldn't have guessed it by the number of empty parking spots at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte.

"I expected this whole parking lot to be wall-to-wall cars today. So it's really unfortunate. I mean these are huge weekends for them. So yeah, I think the decrease in numbers is going to be really significant,” said Chris Morris, a U.S. National Whitewater Center visitor.

Morris has been coming to the U.S. National Whitewater Center ever since it opened. His son even works there.

He says it's the water activities that are usually the draw, but now that they've been suspended, the number of people coming out has dropped.

"If those aren't running, I think people are going to look for other things to do," said Morris.

"The public wants to see you know, the people behind the center. They get a lot of tax dollars and I think the public feels like they would really like to hear from the executives out there... front and center," said Diane Chase, who works in crisis communication.

Chase is not affiliated with the U.S. National Whitewater Center.

On June 24, the center released a statement announcing that it has "temporarily suspended whitewater rafting and whitewater kayaking."  That's the last time the center issued any kind of public statement.

"Even in the worst times, during a crisis, you can also say what you know, what you're doing about it, and how you feel about it, and just those three simple things would go a long way," said Chase.

Morris says he would like full disclosure and would like to know what the U.S. National Whitewater Center knows, but he thinks there is still a lot to be figured out and thinks the opportunity will come when the center is ready to open whitewater activities up again.

"I think that's going to be their opportunity to really show that what they've done is gone the extra mile to make sure these channels are as safe they can be,” said Morris.

The U.S. National Whitewater Center has posted on their website their official statements, as well as a frequently asked questions page.