Volume 3, No. 7. April 11, 2003
Eric's
Turn
Let
the children play
My
tour of California facilities this week seems to be harping on a recurring theme:
children, a theme reflected in this issue of THE LOOP. Paramount’s Great
America hosted a media day for its new Nickelodeon Central kiddie area. I paid
my first-ever visit to Bonfante Gardens, built expressly for young children.
I stopped at a small community park in Fresno, Rotary Playland, built by the
local Rotary Clubs to serve the children of the community both in operation
and in the expenditure of all its proceeds. Thursday I attended the opening
of Legoland’s Bionicle Blaster. Today, I attend the debut of Disneyland’s
new Winnie the Pooh ride.
Obviously, there’s market value in catering to kids, but that’s not
what I want to focus on here. In fact, the journey’s most treasured moment
was visiting Rotary Playland, a park which was so good to its community it let
itself fall into disrepair (see story in this edition). “Marketing
to kids” is such an alien concept to this park dedicated to “serving
children” that it needed community aid to return from the brink of extinction
and is seeking donated rides to supplement its current stock of eight rides
in order to better carry out its mission.
Sure, the ’55 Arrow Carousel was a classic piece of machinery to admire.
The Molina coaster itself, let alone the serpent it surrounds, was a rare gem
to examine. But the element that moved me is the one I photographed above, the
toy soldiers “drumming” on trash cans. Seeing these triggered a memory
that never fully emerged from the deepest crevices of my mind, some vague recollection
of a little amusement venue in a city park during the earliest years of my own
childhood. I felt a strange but comforting affinity for these concrete, colorful
soldiers, like I knew them well and had held them in great fondness long, long
ago.
The same day I beheld these fantastical soldiers in Fresno, Baghdad fell to
real soldiers in Iraq. One story of that day particularly bothered me. Back
in the mid 1990s I saw news footage shot in an amusement park in Baghdad. Little
boys and girls laughed or wore the universal expression of a child’s awe
as they road a little train. This week U.S. forces discovered a cache of firearms
and grenades stored in an amusement park in the city. My stomach churned as
I wondered whether the amusement park in both accounts were one and the same.
If so, what a terrible violation of childhood.
Here in the United States, I hear concerned park operators wonder how much the
ongoing war will impact attendance. I hear marketing personnel worry that promoting
their parks and new rides this year seems frivolous or needless when there are
“so many important things happening in the world.” As to the former
concern, so far this spring, when the weather is good the people seem to be
visiting their amusement parks. As to the latter, I’m not going to say
you should trumpet your park while war is waging; I’ll let Rebecca Southerby
do that, the 12-year-old daughter of a U.S. Marine currently deployed to Iraq.
At the Bionicle Blaster opening, I asked her a simple question: “How
did you like the ride?”
She gave me a profound answer: “It was really fun. It’s easy to go
on and have your mind off of everything that’s happening in the world,
giving you some time to relax.”
Thank yous
This LOOP is coming to you from the offices of the public relations team at
Legoland California. My utmost appreciation to Courtney Simmons, Kina Paegert
and Stacy Slingerland for their hospitality and friendliness and for letting
me share their space on a busy day.
I also want to extend a special thank you to Nicole Koebrich at Paramount’s
Great America for her warm hospitality and company.
And thanks to old friends Jan Bollwinkel-Smith at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
and Ken Peterson at Monterey Bay Aquarium for good times and great food.
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
All rights reserved
