vortexdemon05 Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 News Link http://www.charlotte.com/breaking_news/story/129778.html Ghost Town In The Sky Website DOORS OPEN THIS FRIDAY N.C.'s Ghost Town back to life MARK PRICE msprice@charlotteobserver.com JEFF WILLHELM / Observer staffRanger Buck (Larry Robbins) will be keeping the peace on the streets of Ghost Town in the Sky in Maggie Valley. Slideshow | N.C.'s Ghost Town MAGGIE VALLEY --For the last five years, the name Ghost Town in the Sky has applied literally to one of North Carolina's oldest theme parks. Hard times closed the Wild West town in 2001, and it instantly went from an average seasonal attendance of 163,500 tourists, to one lonely security guard. Several buyers presented themselves in that five years, but park creator R.B. Coburn refused one after the other. "I preferred to sell it to someone who would keep it a park, not tear it down for houses," says Coburn, 87. On Friday, his stubbornness pays off. Ghost Town in the Sky will be back in business, with new owners and $7 million in renovations. Tourists longing for the romance of the Wild West will once again ride chairlifts to the peak of Buck Mountain and see saloon doors swing open, outlaws gunned down in the dust, and cancan girls flipping their skirts and kicking their legs. Even better for the valley: These played-out fantasies are expected to draw 200,000 in the first season. That's an economic bull's-eye. "A lot of people didn't realize how important the park was till it closed," says Louise Price, a 30-year park employee who was recently re-hired. "Since it has been gone, motels closed and were torn down, restaurants went under. It was bad." Signs lauding the reopening now dot storefronts along the five-mile road that runs the length of Maggie Valley, 30 miles southwest of Asheville. The Chamber of Commerce is getting 30 to 50 calls daily and near as many e-mails. Most of the town's 2,200 hotel rooms are booked for opening weekend. "We're even seeing walk-ins," says Chamber director Lynn Collins. "It's nice to see this much excitement and anticipation." A state study released just weeks ago suggests Ghost Town could pump $63 million into the local economy this year. All involved say that's a low estimate. "In its heyday, the park attracted 400,000, and we want to eclipse that figure," says Julie Dion, head of marketing for the park. "But we estimated low on attendance this year, because we know it has to build over time." The new owners are a partnership led by former Charlottean Hank Woodburn, an East Mecklenburg High School graduate who made his money in Putt-Putt franchises and now lives in Florida. The partners have spent millions to correct the problems that caused Ghost Town's closure, most involving deteriorating equipment. In the 45-year-old park's final years, the popular chair-lift to the mountain top had to be shut down, as well as an incline railway, because neither could pass safety inspections. All 40 replica buildings were in bad shape, too, including water damage. Visitors noticed, and attendance dropped by nearly 60,000 annually between 1998 and 2001. Employees like Robert Bradley saw the end coming. Bradley began working at the park in 1962, playing an outlaw who got shot and fell off a roof during the park's mock gunfights. (He says he fell 1,700 times.) He left the park during the '70s, but returned in 1998 and was there when the gate was locked that final day in 2001. "It was sad, because the park was like a second home to me and everybody else in the valley," says Bradley, "but it was either close the place down or let it hit rock bottom. "If I had to sum in one word what this park means to the community: Life. That's it. It brings the tourists in, and these few years without it have made it hard for Maggie Valley to survive." Bradley is again part of the 300-member staff, only now he directs the gunfights rather than stars in them. His co-workers include units of performing cowboys, cancan girls, saloon singers, lawmen, and one shady undertaker. There's also a cowboy mascot in the guise of Ranger Buck, a Forest City retiree named Larry Robbins, who is perhaps more grateful than anybody for Ghost Town's reopening. If the park hadn't hired him, he'd walk the streets for free. "When I heard this place was reopening, it was like a dream come true," says Robbins, 65, standing outside the Silver Dollar Saloon in full cowboy garb, right down to the spurs. "In the Old West, you always knew right from wrong. You knew the good guys from the bad guys. Here, when I walk these streets, I feel like I'm going back in time, like it's the 1800s. I hope visitors to the park will take away some of that." PREVIEW Ghost Town in the Sky One of the state's oldest theme parks, a replica Wild West town, is back five years after closing down. WHEN: 9 a.m. Friday. WHERE: Off Interstate 40 East, take exit 27 onto N.C. 19/23, follow U.S. 19 right at Lake Junaluska and through Maggie Valley. Ghost Town parking is on right, at end of the valley. TICKETS: Adults $22 to $29; children (ages 3-10) $16 to $21. DETAILS: 828-926-1140, www.ghosttowninthesky.com. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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