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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

A Free Ride Silverwood’s Turnstiles Turn 2,000,000th Time, And Family Rewarded

In celebrating its 10th anniversary, Silverwood Theme Park greeted its 2 millionth visitor just before 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Joel and Rosalind Aaron and their three children from Brentwood, Calif., walked through the gates. They got a refund, free stuffed animals, T-shirts and a basket of North Idaho products.

It was a contrast to 1991, when park owner Gary Norton asked Kootenai County commissioners to lower his property taxes, because the park lost money. In 1988 and 1989 the park was losing $5 million.

But almost 10 years later the park is growing steadily. Last year’s season had a record number of visitors at 300,000, up 33 percent from the 1995 season. This season, more than 20,000 season passes have been sold, up from only 4,000 two years ago.

“We just reached a point of reaped rewards for a lot of hard work,” said David Palmer, marketing director for the theme park.

This year, rain days and no new rides have kept numbers at 5 to 10 percent lower than last year, Palmer said.

Silverwood added a new roller coaster, the Timber Terror, last season and is currently studying adding a new ride to the 100-acre park.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo