Posted on 04/23/2003 5:41:23 AM PDT by MalcolmS
WINTER HAVEN -- Cypress Gardens is closing its doors for good on Sunday because of declining attendance and a faltering tourism industry.
Florida's first theme park, which put Polk County on the map when it was founded 67 years ago, will officially shut down at 7 p.m., a decision the park's owners had virtually no control over, officials said.
According to a statement released Thursday afternoon, the park's attendance never recovered from the Sept. 11 attacks, which severely impacted the state's tourism industry.
March attendance was down 42,000 visitors from the same time last year, the statement says, and the threat of terrorism and war in Iraq have "impacted the park's ability to sustain itself."
"It is mandated by our lack of funds to sustain the normal operations," the statement says. "These diminished funds have impacted the company and placed it in this faltering and distressed situation. This distressed situation has been created as previously mentioned by unforeseen factors beyond the control of Cypress Gardens management and efforts."
Almost the entire staff will be laid off, with just a skeleton crew securing the property and wrapping up park affairs.
Employees were told about the closing Thursday afternoon.
Stacy Huey, assistant marketing manager for the park, said around 2:30 p.m. that she "just found out five minutes ago."
"This is a total shock to everyone outside of management," a noticeably upset Huey said.
Many of the employees are "really upset," said Shelly Tandbery, who owns and operates the park's dinner boat attraction, Southern Breeze.
"There's been rumors, but not to this extent," Tandbery said.
Tandbery said she and her husband hope to continue operating their dinner boat business, which they've been running under a contract with Cypress Gardens for more than four years, and fulfill the contracts they already have with groups.
"We are going to somehow try to continue with the operations there," she said.
Ticket and passholders have also been left in the lurch with the closing.
Winter Haven resident Tom Campana said he just spent $159 on two annual passes a month ago, but was told to write to an address about getting a possible refund.
The entire situation stinks, he said.
"I just feel like I shouldn't write to some address," he said. "They wouldn't even give me a contact person."
The park's phone recording had not been updated Thursday afternoon to reflect the news, stating, "Thank you for calling beautiful Cypress Gardens." The park's Web site, www.cypressgardens.com, was off-line.
And county officials, many of whom are in Tallahassee attending Polk County Day at the capitol, were also just hearing the news.
County Manager Jim Keene was reached in Tallahassee and said he'd just heard the news around 3 p.m. but didn't know much about the closing.
"I'm sure there'll be an effect on (tourism)," Keene said. "I'm not sure what their numbers are as far as attendance, but they've been struggling for the past few years. I'm sure there'll be an impact, along with everything else that's happening with tourism."
County Commissioner Charles Richardson, who represents the district Cypress Gardens is located in, had not heard about the park's closing when reached shortly after 4 p.m. in Tallahassee and responded by saying, "Good gracious."
"It put a shock into me," he said. "I hope it's not a permanent condition."
Richardson, a Polk County native, said Cypress Gardens has "been a valuable vehicle for so many people for so long," that "it's just a part of what we are in Polk County, in the Winter Haven area."
The city of Winter Haven issued a statement late Thursday afternoon stating that city officials are "saddened by the difficult decision" Reynolds and Cypress Gardens management "had to make in ceasing normal park operations, but understand you can only sustain losses for a certain period of time before certain business decisions must be made.
"We are proud of Cypress Gardens' rich and long history in our community and wish the management and employees the best," the statement concluded.
Cypress Gardens was founded by Dick Pope in 1936, but was sold to Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1985, who sold it to Busch Entertainment Corp. in 1989.
Reynolds and six others bought the park from Busch in 1995, but the owners reportedly had losses of $6 million over the past eight years.
The park had its niche in local tourist attractions by offering tropical plants and flowers, world-famous water ski shows and Southern belles in antebellum dresses. The park also catered to oversees couples getting married, and during its heyday was used as a backdrop for movies, attracting celebrities such as Elvis Presley, Esther Williams Johnny Carson and many others.
(Excerpt) Read more at polkonline.com ...
Really? My family visited Florida when I was 8, and I still have more vivid memories of Cypress Gardens than Disneyworld. I had a blast; it rained hard all day, and I didn't care.
Indian Legend
After the Seminoles left the Cherokee nation, they settled in Central Florida away from the white man's lodges to the North. One legendary chief settled on the lake which is now known as Lake Wailes. Here he had all the advantages of a high campsite on a lake which offered fresh water and good fishing. It was also close to Iron Mountain which, as the highest point in Florida, was sacred to the Indians' Sun God.
The chief, Cufcowellax, and his people were happy for several years, but then one day a huge bull alligator moved into the lake and began to harass the tribe. Soon it began nightly raids on the village, and the tribe lived in terror of this evil spirit that inhabited their lake.
The legend says that Cufcowellax was a chief of great physical prowess and courage. He had great stature among his people both as a warrior and as a ruler. When he saw his people in constant fear, the chief, fearing for their safety, set out to conquer the evil spirit. His tribal shaman and elders placed him under the protection of the Great Spirit and he began his search.
Though many suns came and went, he could not catch the 'gator. Finally one morning he came upon the 'gator on the northwest shore as it dragged another night's victim into the lake.
The legend says the chief battled the 'gator on land and water for a moon, and then suddenly the great thrashing stopped, and the water of the lake turned red.
The tribe watched the surface of the lake in fearful anticipation. With great joy they saw their chief rise from the water. In the midst of their celebration they saw something else. The great battle had made a smaller lake near the big one. When the chief died, he was buried on the shore of the little lake, Ticowa, and the place became sacred to the Indians.
Discovery of Spook Hill
The Indians lost their camping grounds to the encroaching white settlers. Circuit riders carrying mail between the coasts used the old trail around Lake Ticowa until they discovered that their horses were laboring downhill. It was they who first called the place Spook Hill.
Some forty years later as the area developed, the citrus industry grew. Soon the hills around Lake Ticowa were covered with citrus groves. Workers driving their wagons around the lake were startled to find their mule teams struggling downhill with a load.
Years later the road was paved and residents found their cars would roll uphill by themselves. Others came to test this phenomenon, and it soon became a major attraction for visitors.
As I said before, $34.95 to watch water skiers may have had something to do with it.
Long story short - the surroundings outside of the Bok Tower Sanctuary and Gardens - constitute the town of "Mountain Lake" which was one of the very first gated communities in the entire US. There's a lot of "old money" there - the people who bought property there in the early 1900's were the tycoons and the "robber barons" like the Rockefellers, etc. My dad still maintains his locksmithing business and regularly services locks on the estate homes, so he gets paid with checks written on all the NY & Chicago high-powered banks ;-).
Cheap Thrill On A Hill
Do cars roll uphill on their own? In the serene town of Lake Wales, a phenomenon of this sort is an everyday occurrence. In fact, cars that appear to defy gravity are as common a sight as a pair of overalls in the small farming and mining community.
On any given Saturday as many as 30 cars an hour show up to witness the magic of Spook Hill. Thrill seekers of the bizarre take their place on an officially painted line at the bottom of the haunted hill, place their cars in neutral and begin a gradual decent upward.
Lake Wales is unique in that of all the Florida towns, it actually has a hill and even more so that they have one of such mystical proportion. In celebration they have respectfully dressed up their asphalt apparition with cut out letters suspended on wires that spell out its name.
Residents knew there was no place to go but up with their marvel. Every town needs a claim to fame and nothing generates business in a nondescript little community quite like intrigue. The Wall Street Journal once called Spook Hill the "piney pitstop of the paranormal."
According to legend, Spook Hill gave rise back in the days when the Seminole Indian Chief Cufcowellax led his tribe into battle against a giant alligator that terrorized the town. The battle went on for months and created a depression along with a lake in the landscape, next to which, the body of the fallen chief was buried. Mail carriers years later realized that their horses struggled when walking down the hill. The horses exerted the kind of effort they normally used going uphill. It's ok if you don't remember any of this later. They have it all painted on a sign at the bottom of the hill.
More than one visitor has placed a carpenter's level near the hill's halfway point and found an upward slope. Students of geology at USF in Tampa insist it is all just an illusion and that you are actually going down hill. As with any oddity in nature there are always skeptics and the town is more than happy to oblige in the haunting of imaginations.
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