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Spokane Park Board votes to keep up to three Riverfront rides

FILE - Dana Josephson, Riverfront Park maintenance department, breaks down and carries away part of the Tilt-A-Whirl ride, Sept. 7, 2016. The Tilt-A-Whirl was sold last week at auction, days before the Spokane Park Board nixed a proposal for a permanent rides complex in the newly redesigned Riverfront Park. The city still owns the Berry-Go-Round ride, seen in the photo’s foreground. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)
By Kip Hill kiph@spokesman.com(509) 459-5429

Up to three of the Riverfront Park amusement rides earned a reprieve from sale Thursday.

A majority of the Spokane Park Board voted in favor of a resolution calling for the city to retain up to three of the attractions, after a previous plan called for all of the rides – excluding the tour train and SkyRide – to be declared surplus and available for sale. Eight of the nine board members voted for the resolution, with City Councilman Mike Fagan casting the lone vote against.

The resolution does not specify which of the 13 rides the city will retain. Ted McGregor, head of the subcommittee overseeing a $64 million renovation of the park, told members of the Spokane City Council at a meeting Thursday afternoon after the vote that the decision on which rides to retain would be left up to city staff.

“I think we’ll probably save the ones that have the most popularity and ridership, like the spider, and the tilt-a-whirl,” McGregor said. “But we’re going to wait to hear back from (Riverfront Park Director) Jon (Moog) on that.”

A nonprofit, led by former Riverfront Park Director Hal McGlathery, has been campaigning against selling off the rides, arguing they are the cheapest form of amusement park-level entertainment for Spokane families.

Fagan echoed many of their concerns in his reasoning for voting against designating all the rides for sale, saying the decision to sell didn’t need to be made immediately while the park is under construction.

Selling the rides would doom the season pass program that generates revenue in the park, he said. He also expressed a personal affinity for the attractions, some of which have been in Riverfront since 1979.

“I didn’t feel as though, up until that particular point, the folks that were advocating for keeping the rides were adequately heard,” Fagan said.

McGregor and Park Board President Chris Wright told city council members the board heard from McGlathery and his group for more than 90 minutes earlier this week, eventually settling on the resolution to keep up to three of the rides.

“The fact is, he had quite a bit of time in the past year,” Wright said.

The recommendation to remove the rides was included in a master plan approved by the City Council and park representatives in 2014.

Rides will not be located in Riverfront Park this summer, as construction continues on the south bank of the Spokane River. Park board members said Thursday the new ice ribbon feature is on track to open in November, with the Looff Carrousel likely online in early 2018. The board has also approved $1 million for repairs to the oft-broken rotary fountain, portions of which will come out of the $64 million bond approved by voters.