Silverwood Wants ‘Destination’ Status

While Silverwood Theme Park may never approach the size and scope of a Six Flags amusement park, it plans to ride the wave of renewed interest in parks to destination status in the region.

“This park is a little different from others in that it started out as just a hobby,” said David Palmer, marketing director. “It’s given the park the chance to grow and do a lot of things right.”

Like larger parks around the nation, Silverwood is finding it easier to grow this summer than in some other years.

Attendance remains on pace to match the park’s best year, 1993, when about 250,000 people passed through the gates here, Palmer said.

That’s enough people to make Silverwood a major cog in North Idaho’s tourism economy, and to fuel management’s hopes of vaulting the park into the middle tier of the U.S. amusement park industry.

But Silverwood isn’t forgetting its roots.

Park owner Gary Norton’s love of antique aircraft led to the creation of daily air shows in the late 1980s. Around the airfield sprang a series of attractions and rides that became Silverwood. The latest attraction, daily ice shows, complements the air shows.

The park has ambitious plans to grow. Palmer and new general manager Daniel Aylward - “old war horses of the amusement park business,” as Palmer said - plan to expand the park’s season beyond the Memorial Day-to-Labor Day period in coming years.

Both Palmer and Aylward worked at a park in Tucson, Ariz., and several other amusement parks before that.

Already an expanded marketing campaign has paid off with better attendance, Palmer said. The park wants to increase its drawing circle to 150 miles, encompassing markets in Western Montana, Eastern Washington, Canada and even the Seattle area.

More radio, television and newspaper spots have helped, but the real benefit of such campaigns usually doesn’t kick in for two or three years, Palmer said.

Silverwood’s appeal reflects why families are flocking to other parks: There’s something for everyone.

“We’ve been focusing more on getting more rides for the really young kids,” Palmer said, motioning to a new push-pedal train ride tucked in the corner of the park.

The plan seems to be working. The Mendezvigo family of Colville made the trip to Athol on a cloudy, brisk Tuesday.

“We heard about Silverwood through the TV and on the radio, and then we heard about it from friends who had gone here,” said Mark Mendezvigo, who knocked down a hot dog with his wife, Pam, and three daughters ages 5, 6 and 9.

The family usually takes vacations around the region, but thought they’d give Silverwood a try because it was close and something that they could all enjoy.

That’s the beauty of the park, Palmer said. “You see fathers here acting in ways you’d never see them,” he said. “People like to escape reality, and they do that here.”

The average price of a day at an amusement park nationally is $120. At Silverwood, a family of four pays less than $100, and Palmer doesn’t see any slowdown in the number of families coming.

“We’re in the business of selling fun,” he said. “It’s a good business to be in.”

, DataTimes