Bell's Amusement Park to close
Game over: Tulsa County terminates lease with amusement park after more than 50 yearsby Ginger Shepherd
The Journal Record
11/14/2006
Journal Record Photo TULSA – Bell’s Amusement Park opened at the Tulsa Fairgrounds – now the Expo Square – in 1951. The park opened after Robert Bell was awarded a 1950 bid to provide children-geared rides at the fairgrounds.
Now, the Tulsa County Public Facilities Authority has decided not to renew the lease for the amusement park at Expo Square, giving the Bell family 120 days to remove all of the rides, slabs, and other improvements they have made to the space; additionally, the family is expected to repair any damage. Some of the reasons given to not renew the lease have ranged from the business not being financially viable to safety concerns. But those are just the reasons that current owner Robbie Bell has heard, though they aren’t outlined in the Nov. 8 letter to Bell, the founder’s grandson.
The letter, sent by Expo Square President Rick Bjorklund, is just a notice that the lease has been terminated. Bjorklund said the lease termination is not a surprise and any indication that it is, is just inaccurate.
He said in the last year or so, blunt language had been entered into regarding the lease but that the issue of Bell’s is one that has been brewing for several years. Bjorklund’s comments were limited on the subject. He has been with the county since this summer and said Expo Square lost a lot of institutional memory when its former president, Denny Tuttle, died.
With that said, Bjorklund stressed that there is “no pleasure, no joy” in terminating the lease.
“It is simply a step in the process,” he said.
Now with the official letter, Bell said he is looking at all of his options and that the future is full of a lot of unknowns. Those unknowns include what Bell’s will do, where it will go and what will happen to its employees.
Bell said that what he is hearing is that his business isn’t financially viable, but he said that isn’t the case. In the business plan that he prepared and gave to the authority, there was a letter of intent for financing that would provide funding of about $1.4 million.
“How do you get funding when you aren’t financially viable?” Bell said. He added that the park entertains about 100,000 people a year.
The money would be used for improvements to the amusement park. He said Bell’s had plans to replace the chain link fence with the razor-wire top, though the aging fence doesn’t actually belong to the park but to the county.
Funding would also go to improve the Skyride stations as well as to update the ride, he said. Plans call for rebuilding the stations with a Swiss-type chalet. Bell’s owns and operates the Skyride that crosses Expo Square during the Tulsa State Fair.
Other improvements include new rides. Bell said one of the biggest challenges the park has faced is simply the ability to grow. Bell has been in a legal battle with neighbors to build a new roller coaster; it was a battle he finally won and one of the improvements he planned to make.
Bjorklund couldn’t comment on what the business plan outlined or what it contained. He said when the county received the plan, it was stamped confidential by the Bells and that the county doesn’t want to be in breach of that confidentiality. He recommends that members of the public ask Bell’s for a copy of it.
Regarding the viability of the plan, Bjorklund said the authority asked staff to have the plan evaluated by professionals. It was that group of professionals who said it was not a viable plan. That was the recommendation that Bjorklund gave to the authority.
When it comes to the issue of finances, Bell suspects the topic stems from the park’s reduced rent. He said the amusement park sought a reduced rate after its revenues decreased during the 2003 and 2004 state fairs.
As part of Bell’s deal with the state fair, he said the county is supposed to promote the park during the fair. It seemed to Bell that wasn’t occurring, and the county also built an RV park just north of Bell’s parking lot. Both moves hurt the park, he said.
Bell’s gross sales during the fair were down $200,000 in 2003 and again in 2004, he said, which is why the park sought the rent reduction. Bell’s rent is about $135,000 and is one of the highest at Expo Square, which also leases space to the Drillers and Big Splash.
However, things were looking up for the park. Bell said in 2005 and again this year, the amusement park began promoting itself during the state fair, and its revenues rose to pre-2003 levels.
The other issue raised was the park’s safety – and this is upsetting to Bell, who said is park is safe and his record proves it.
Each year, the Oklahoma Department of Labor’s Safety Standard’s division inspects Bell’s Amusement Park prior to the park opening each season, said Marion Holloway, the division’s director. After the park is open, the agency conducts random surveillance. “Bell’s has a very good safety record,” he said. “We worked very closely with park management after the park was damaged during a freak storm this year. Repairs went beyond what was needed to fix visible repairs. We have had no problems with park management not addressing safety issues in a timely manner.” Bjorklund said the next step is to determine what to do with the land Bell’s uses. He said the county has no immediate plans.
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