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Park Profile parkworld-online.com A Tale of Two Parks


LAKESIDE AMUSEMENT PARK A


Gary Kyriazi concludes his story, starting on page 30, examining how the Colorado city of Denver is able to sustain two competing amusement parks


n amusement park too big for its own space is challenging enough, but the Gurtler family had another concern, another Denver amusement park just a half-mile away that gave Elitch’s more competition than most people in Denver – and the amusement industry – were aware of. Lakeside Amusement Park, originally called White


“ In the


1970s, America witnessed one amusement park after another fall prey to newer theme parks. A park shakedown would have been expected in Denver. But no shakedown occurred


City, had a more traditional history than Elitch’s Gardens, beginning as a trolley park built by the Denver Tram Company in 1908, and soon sold to Adolph Zang. White City was a common name for American amusement parks in the early 1900s, so derived from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, which was referred to as White City because of its plethora of white paint and electric light bulbs. Denver’s White City held true to its namesake with architecture similar to the Chicago Exposition and over 100,000 lights. When a young man named Ben Krasner purchased the renamed Lakeside Park in 1935, he brought it up- to-date with neon lighting, and modern amusement rides joining the original indoor swimming pool, Fun House and Shoot-the-Chutes. In 1940 Krasner replaced the 1912 Derby Racer rollercoaster with the breathtaking Cyclone, still in operation today. Two trains purchased from the 1904 St Louis World’s Fair circled Lake Rhoda (named after Ben Krasner’s daughter).


During the 1940s and ‘50s, Lakeside Amusement


Park and Elitch’s Gardens shared the Denver population, many of whom happily walked the half- mile from one park to the other on a summer evening. While Elitch’s had a colourful local history with its famous gardens and the Elitch Theater, Lakeside was holding its own as a more standard, thrill-laden amusement park. Most significantly, Lakeside had something Elitch’s didn't have room for: picnic facilities. With space that could handle over 10,000 a day, Denver companies both small and large continually used Lakeside for their annual summer picnics.


No shakedown here ” 32


In the 1970s, America witnessed one traditional amusement park after another fall prey to nearby, newer theme parks. As such, a typical theme park


shakedown would have been


expected in Denver. While Elitch’s certainly wasn’t newer than Lakeside, it did have a soft, flowery “theme park” quality to it, while Lakeside was, well, a traditional amusement park.


But no shakedown occurred. Moreover, when Ben Krasner died in 1965, his energetic daughter Rhoda had gamely moved ahead, keeping Lakeside alive and well with a large arsenal of thrill rides. Elitch’s countered in 1966 with the John-Allen designed Twister wooden coaster, joining its 1927 Herbert Schmeck-designed Wildcat.


How long could such competition last between two impressive parks that were just one-half mile away from each other, and sharing a rather modest market? In 1982 I became friendly with Elitch’s marketing director. After requesting anonymity (now over 30 years later, I suppose I can say her first name is Martha), she spoke openly. “Jack and Buzz Gurtler aren’t exactly threatened by


Lakeside,” Martha told me at the time, “but they sure envy Lakeside. They’re eye-balling it big time, and I believe they’d purchase it if they could, and they’ve probably even made offers. It makes sense. Elitch’s is out of space, and we can’t forfeit our limited parking for more rides. The Gurtlers could purchase Lakeside, with its beautiful lake and train ride, the off ramp from Interstate 70 practically spilling into the park, more than enough parking, and all those wonderful money-making picnic facilities. We could move all our flat rides over there, keep what Lakeside already has. And Lakeside’s Cyclone is a match for our own two wooden coasters, or we could move either or both of our coasters and create a monster park with three world-class wooden rollercoasters and over 40 rides.”


The day after that revelation I asked Rhoda Krasner if she had received offers – from anyone – to buy her beloved Lakeside Park. “Oh sure,” her eyes twinkled, “I’ve had lots of offers. But nothing I couldn’t refuse.”


Elitch Gardens – a new era In 1994, with Budd Gurtler’s son Sandy control, Elitch’s Gardens made the necessary and inevitable move, to downtown Denver. Its two wood coasters didn’t survive the move, as Sandy Gurtler found it more practical to build a newer, modified and yet reverent version of the Twister, naming it Twister II. The move was a boon for Gurtler, giving Elitch’s a welcomed location within a huge sports and entertainment complex, including Denver’s Mile High Stadium and Pepsi Center, with service by an Interstate 25 freeway off ramp, and bus and light rail stops at the park’s entrance. Surprisingly, and for undisclosed reasons, Sandy Gurtler sold the new Elitch Gardens just two years later, in 1996, to Premier Parks, which purchased Six Flags in 1997, making the new park Six Flags Elitch


DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013


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