Volume 3, No. 7. April 11, 2003
Romance on
the air
Clear across the
country another park also was featured on While You Were Out. Last summer
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, California hosted a San Jose husband
and his kids while the wife had the backyard remodeled. This spring, however,
the park gained the spotlight on a show intended to bring a couple together
for life rather than separate them for a day.
Married by America, the reality television show on which the TV-viewing
public plays matrimonial matchmaker, sent one of its couples on a date to Santa
Cruz Beach Boardwalk last month. Billy Jean and Tony, with film crew in tow,
rode the Giant Dipper woodie roller coaster, Ferris Wheel and a couple
of spinning flat rides. They also played several games in the Funland Arcade.
With the sun setting as they rode the rides, the staged romantic moment benefited
from the authentic romantic ambiance of the Boardwalk at twilight. That prompted
the park's big publicity moment when Billy Jean told the show’s audience
how perfect her date was at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. “It was exactly
what we wanted them to say,” said Jan Bollwinkel-Smith, the park’s
communications manager. “Reality TV: We didn’t tell her to say that.”
Tony, meanwhile, compared his relationship to Billy Jean as similar to riding
the Giant Dipper—which, considering the speed at which the venerable
coaster is running this spring and its increased air time, we’ll assume
is a compliment.
The Boardwalk will get another starring role this summer when Wal-Mart airs
a national television commercial it filmed there. “We get a lot of (producers)
interested in the Boardwalk because of its uniqueness and because of its colors,”
Bollwinkel-Smith said. The park’s colorful buildings and rides also make
the Boardwalk a favorite setting for catalog shoots. But the Boardwalk turns
many of the requests down because of time. “A lot of them will call either
in the middle of the summer when we’re trying to operate a park and can’t
stop everything to let a TV production come in here and take over, or they’ll
call in the winter when we’re in the middle of maintenance and everybody’s
busy,” Bollwinkel-Smith said.
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
©2003, Minton Enterprises
LLC
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