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Premier Rides provides post-hurricane support
P
remier Rides dispatched its Rapid Response Service Team to provide reopening support to the Park at OWA, Foley, Alabama, following
Hurricane Sally.
The area between Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida, took the brunt of the category 2 storm with widespread wind damage, storm surge flooding, and over 20 inches (510 mm) of rainfall. Several tornadoes also occurred. The Park at OWA contacted Premier Rides after Sally, the first hurricane to make landfall in Alabama since Ivan in 2004, and a storm with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 km/h), had finally travelled beyond the park. “I appreciate Premier Rides jumping in to help us out during a very difficult situation,” commented Steve Honeycutt, general manager of the Park at OWA, “and the promptness in which they responded is nothing short of impressive.”
The Premier Service Rapid Response team travelled to the park to perform inspections of all 22 rides and attractions at the park to identity damage sustained from the hurricane, to work with the maintenance team to perform simple repairs and to determine any other necessary repairs to be completed prior to the park’s reopening.
“Steve Honeycutt is one of the most passionate leaders in the industry so when he calls you jump,”
noted Jim Seay, Premier Rides P
president. “Premier has supported Steve with other technical challenges in the past and we appreciate he turned to us again. It is impressive how quickly the team at the Park at OWA reacted following Hurricane Sally. They worked very hard and not only had their hands full taking care of their own facilities, but the park’s parking lot became ground zero for the regional recovery effort with over 1,400 linesmen from all over the Southwest setting up fully operational living quarters. I am honoured that Steve called on us again. We are humbled that our reputation for quality and service prompted the call to action.” The Park at OWA reopened to the public just sixteen days after Hurricane Sally passed. Locals were welcomed to the park for free to in recognition of the difficult recovery and as a way of providing a welcome break from the countless hours everyone had been spending on cleanup efforts. “In these challenging times,” added Seay, “Premier Rides recognizes that the ability to pivot and to support our valued clients in different ways is an important facet of our business. We are pleased to be able to support clients like the Park at OWA.” Premier Service, a division of Premier Rides, provides spare parts and service to all manufacturers’ rides, not just those supplied by Premier.
IRM supplies classic rides to Historic Arnold’s Park
International Rides Management (IRM) has been chosen again to supply Historic Arnold’s Park, Iowa, with additional rides to complement its current line-up of classic and vintage rides. Most recently, IRM provided a vintage Allan Herschell Mad Mouse to the ride lineup in 2019. For the 2020 season, it supplied two classic rides from the recently liquidated Lakemont Park, Altoona, Pennsylvania. Opening this summer were seven refurbished bumper cars along with the 1965 Eyerly Aircraft Octopus show stopper that debuted after Arnold’s briefly closed in June for a Covid precaution period. “When Arnold’s Park briefly closed in
early June, this gave their team time to install the refurbished Octopus,” said Sam Shurgott, IRM president. “Its new pink sweeps shine bright in the summer sun and the new green LED light package casts an incredible glow in the evening. We heard rumors of a large octopus sighting in the adjacent Lake Okoboji, and this rumor was for real!”
22 IRM sent Ohio-native Bob Lisko to assist
with reopening the Octopus and is now working on the Arrow flume. Lisko packed and shipped many of these classic rides including the Joyland Mad Mouse which recently made its way to Arnolds Park. The Boji Falls Log Flume (Arrow 1970) is
also under refurbishment. Also brokered 20 years ago by Shurgott, the classic Arrow ride recently turned 50 years old and will return next summer with support from the IRM Team and continue to provide thrills for many years to some. “I really enjoy working with the exceptional team at Arnold’s Park,” said Shurgott. “As a former Conneaut Lake Park employee, Arnold’s provides similar family summer fun with classic rides on a relaxing lakefront setting. It’s easy to assist where needed when it comes to classic summertime fun. Jeff Vierkant and Marshall Doeden are about as easy to talk to as anyone in the friendly mid-west.”
AUTUMN PART 2 2020
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