Volume 3, No. 14. July 25, 2003
New Arrivals
It’s
a waterpark!
Silverwood in Athol, Idaho, announces the arrival of Boulder Beach, July
4, 2003. Measurements: 12 acres (5 hectares), 24,000-square-foot (2,230-square-meter)
wave pool, 1,056-foot-long (322 meters) lazy river, four slides, interactive
water play structure with six slides, one snack bar plus food carts. Delivered
by Whitewater West.
Silverwood
owner Gary Norton had been considering adding a waterpark to his popular theme
park for a couple of years. “Gary is the kind of man who really wants to
be hands-on, really wants to know it’s going to work and how it’s
going to work,” said Nancy DiGiammarco, Silverwood’s director of marketing,
sales and public relations. “He did a lot of study. He visited a lot of
waterparks so he could take from the very best.” She cited Holiday World
& Splashin’ Safari in Santa Claus, Indiana, and Roaring Springs in
downstate Idaho as two parks in particular that helped bring Norton’s visions
to fruition.
That
vision, however, was to be totally unique. “We kept asking, ‘Should
it have a South Pacific theme?’” DiGiammarco said. “(Norton)
kept coming back to the Northwest. ‘I’m going to create a theme park
that mirrors what you see around you.’” That included leaving as many
aspens, cedars, pines and huge boulders in the new waterpark and painting a
forest vista mural as a backdrop to the wave pool.
That
wave pool, Big Moose Bay, has turned out to be the park’s primary draw.
“Idaho is a landlocked state,” DiGiammarco said. “We have a lot
of lakes, but no waves. This was the first opportunity for many of our guests
to play in the waves.”
After
a soft opening for employee families, media, local dignitaries and a small crowd
used for an all-day photo shoot, Boulder Beach opened on Independence Day in
conjunction with a classic car show celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ford
Motor Company. Two years ago Silverwood began hosting special events as a marketing
boost when the park didn’t add any new rides, and for this year the Inland
Empire Mustang Club approached DiGiammarco about hosting a centenary Ford celebration.
The event dovetailed nicely with Boulder Beach’s opening, if for no other
reason than to spread out the crowd of 8,000 that showed up that day.
Even before Boulder Beach opened, Silverwood was off to a strong season, following up on last year’s record 353,000 total guests. “For weekends in May and going daily in June, we held our numbers,” DiGiammarco said. “We felt pretty good going into July 4, and we were hoping for a 10 percent increase by the end of the year. Now, we will far exceed that.” In fact, with day-to-day attendance increasing as much as 50 percent over last year’s the 2002 record already has been toppled, she 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.
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