Advertising Supplement to The Spokesman−Review • Saturday, July 14, 2012 • Online at www.spokesman.com
kids out of high school, collegeaged, that are there for the pure adrenaline rushes. They come in and say boy I didn’t know this was this much fun. They live here and don’t come here. We attract Mom and Dad and little kids. The other side of the park is what interests me more than the thrill rides side. And that’s the more stable marketplace, that’s the families we’re bringing in. You can make the big hits, like a lot of the Six Flags parks do. But those are all one-shot wonder hits. But it’s the depth of the park that’s more important. The quality of the flower beds, the brick walkways. The shows and entertainment, that build foundation for a more loyal customer base. Building memories with families.
Q: How much time do you spend here? A: The last couple of years I’ve been spending more time here in the summer. My son Paul has taken over the reins. I want to make sure he has the philosophy behind the decisions. It’s very difficult to make decisions on a daily basis if you don’t have it, and he out of all my kids came up with the right attitude for customer service. It was very, very important to understand how to make the customer’s day important, and he has it more than any other person in the park. If somebody has a bad day at the park I hope they run into him, because he’ll make it a good day. He’s just wonderful at it. I don’t accept even one unhappy customer. We get one once in a while. We sure fix it when we find out about it.
Q:. What do you learn
from walking around?
A:
You stand in line with other guests, and they don’t know who you are, and you listen to them all talking, it’s real interesting. That’s usually where I decide to go next, to find out what they like, what they don’t like, things they’re having problems with. It’s real nice to get that feedback directly.
Q: What’s Silverwood
going to look like in 25 years?
A:
It’s hard to say. I hope we’re double where we are now. I’d like to just see it keep growing. Being as far as we are from major metropolitan areas, it’s difficult. But I
think we can get there. I have some long-range ideas and visions that I think would be real interesting if I can pull them off, and we’ll make it a very unusual place to visit. And I hope I can get them done over the next 5 to 10 years. There’s no exact formula for what will work. You have to basically learn as you go.
9