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After a six-year roller coaster ride, Cypress Gardens unceremoniously closed Wednesday afternoon, leaving tiny Winter Haven without a tourist attraction and Florida without the last remnants of its oldest theme park.
"It's a sad day for Florida history and even sadder for the many people who hold special memories of working, skiing and playing at what was American's Tropical Wonderland," said Bob Gernert, director of the Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce, who estimated the park played host to 50 million people since opening in 1936.
Created by Dick Pope, an energetic promoter who was one of the pioneers of Florida's tourist industry, Cypress Gardens in its heyday was the site of world-famous water ski shows, an Esther Williams movie and a mandatory stop on the driving itinerary of Florida visitors.
But the arrival of Walt Disney World in 1971 and freeways that bypassed Winter Haven doomed Cypress Gardens to a slow death.
The end was a long time coming. Despite millions invested, theme park giant Anheuser-Busch was unable to make a go of Pope's legacy. Entrepreneur Kent Buescher lost much of his fortune bringing the shuttered 120-acre park back to life in 2004. Unable to collect insurance money for damages caused by three hurricanes that pounded his construction site, Buescher ended up losing both Cypress Gardens and his Wild Adventures theme park in Valdosta, Ga., in a 2006 bankruptcy. Land South LLC, a Mulberry development company that paid Buescher's creditors $16.9 million for the property, gave up Wednesday after keeping the park open intermittently in peak season.
With the rides and six coasters for sale but in mothballs the past year, all that was left for visitors to see was the Splash Island water park and the old botanical gardens on the shore of Lake Eloise. Last weekend 40 employees who were laid off Wednesday got an inkling the end was imminent when the admission dropped to $5 to clear out gift shop inventory.
Unidentified buyers are negotiating to purchase the property. But state and county governments control most of the lake front and the original gardens, while investors have long coveted the developable parts of the 120-acre park.
"With buyers negotiating a sale, we didn't feel it was in the best interest of employees, guests or the public to continue operating," Land South wrote in a statement posted on the park Web site.
"I don't know if this it for Cypress Gardens or the start of Round 3. But we've been changing our business focus since the park went into this downward spiral, and we couldn't say week to week if the gardens would be open," said Jeff Vandiver, co-owner of the Best Western Admiral's Inn next door.
Mark Albright can be reached at albright@sptimes.com or (727)-893-8252.
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