(Arnolds Park)– Officials admit it’s still very early in the season, but so far, numbers at the Arnolds Park Amusement Park are up over those from a year ago.
That was the message Jim Frost, Executive Director of the Iowa Great Lakes Maritime Museum, had for the organization’s board of directors meeting this (Fri.) morning.
Frost presented board members with a spread sheet comparing the numbers on a day-to-day basis for the first few days of the operating season to those of a year ago. He says for the second Saturday the park was open, it took in about eight thousand dollars more than the second Saturday the park was open last year. Frost says Friday, May 28th was especially interesting. He says it was an oustanding day for the park, which wasn’t even supposed to be open to the public yet. Frost says some school groups were going through. But others thought the park had opened for the season when they saw the activity, and started coming to the gates. Frost said they wound up selling them tickets, and for the day, he says the park took in about 8,300-dollars.
Frost is cautiously optimistic the numbers will continue to surpass those of a year ago so the operation will atleast cash flow this year.
When it comes to finances, it was reported there was another meeting this (Fri.) morning between the Maritime Museum Board’s Finance Committee and bankers that are floating the park’s operating loans and debt. It was reported that the session was very positive and the financial institutions appear willing to take a wait-and-see approach when it comes to park operations this summer and its ability to start paying off some of the debt. Another meeting is planned for the near future when a business plan for the park will be presented to bankers.
On another note, Frost reported on damage caused by leaky roofs and drainage problems stemming from recent heavy rains. Frost said he had no estimates yet on how much it will cost to repair several roofs. He said engineering work is being done to address drainage problems behind the Queen’s Court. That project is expected to cost between five-thousand and ten-thousand dollars. Frost said they’d probably be able to take that money out of park operations. He said the roof repairs have already been brought up to bankers, who indicated they’d be willing to extend the park’s loan to cover that work. Frost said they’ll go back to the bankers once they have some numbers on what it will take.
