SEPTEMBER 2010

Amusement industry associations in the news

Great Wolf Lodge Poconos hosts PAPA summer meeting

Annual scholarship program renamed to honor Barbara Knoebel

Mary Wade Burnside - Amusement Today

Barry Kumpf stepped down as first vice president of the Pennsylvania Amusement Park Association (PAPA) during the group’s July 19-20 summer meeting at Great Wolf Lodge & Waterpark Resort in Scotrun, Pa.

Kumpf left his job at Lakemont Park & The Island Waterpark for one at the Blair County Convention Center in Duncanville, Pa., and therefore had to be replaced, said Buddy Knoebel, president of PAPA.

“What we did is we elevated Carl Crider, who was second vice president, into that position,” Knoebel said. “Then we elected a second vice president, but we were only able to elect him on an interim basis. We have to wait until spring to make it official.”

Brian Bossuyt of Camelbeach Mountain Waterpark in Tannersville, Pa., was elected to the position of second vice president, and members will make that official during the spring meeting, which will take place Feb. 28-March 1 at Hershey Lodge in Hershey, Pa.

Knoebel was not sure what the attendance was during the meeting, but he said it was fewer than last year.

“I think that was at least in part because we usually try to bounce it around, but we ended up in the east two years in a row,” Knoebel said. “Next year, we are looking to move into western Pennsylvania. We have some candidates — two parks — that we are going to ask to consider.”

Knoebel did not want to disclose the potential parks until more plans have been made.

In other news, members also discussed the Parks and Carnivals Education seminar that will take place Nov. 8-11 at the Holiday Inn in Morgantown, Pa.

Gary Chubb, past PAPA president and now a member of the board of directors, oversees the PACE training seminar.

“The seminar is generally set up in two training tracks, one geared toward fixed-site locations and another track toward the traveling show industry,” Chubb said. “We have not gotten to the point where we offer different class options. You’re either going to take the traveling track or the fixed-park track.” The seminar is open to anyone — students do not have to be a member of PAPA or of the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials, or NAARSO.

Anyone who holds a ride inspector certification in Pennsylvania must be re-certified every three years, Chubb said. Participants can attend for the first three days and get 24 hours of certification to re-certify as a Pennsylvania state inspector.

Also, “You can attend for an additional eight hours on the 11th and you’ll get 32 hours of training, which is good for NAARSO re-certifications, because every two years, you need 32 hours of additional certification.

“This makes the PACE seminar Pennsylvania’s only nationally-recognized ride safety seminar.”

The seminar site alternates between amusement parks and those that cater to the traveling shows. “This year happens to be the traveling industry’s turn to bring some rides,” Chubb said.

Rides will be set up in the parking lot for hands-on classes.

Topics that will be covered include roller coaster safety and electrical safety, although not all course topics have been selected yet.

“Sometimes we get involved in go-kart and go-kart track inspections, water slide inspections, basic ride inspection techniques and ASTM standards,” Chubb said.

The cost of the ride safety seminar has not been determined yet, Chubb said, but he expects it to be in the neighborhood of $200-$250.

In other news, Rob Fulton, the president of the Pennsylvania Convention & Visitors Bureau, has become the new lobbyist for PAPA, taking over for Barry Wickes.

The meeting did not include a discussion of legislative issues facing PAPA. However, Fulton said, one issue PAPA members are dealing with is a 65 percent cut in tourism dollars in the state of Pennsylvania in the past two years, from $33 million in 2008 down to $10 million this year.

“That affects everybody,” Fulton said. “With those funding cuts, there are less dollars going toward marketing amusement parks, restaurants, hotels. We’re working on some tourism initiatives to get the funding increased.”

Another legislative issue that PAPA wants to work on is a bill that would require schools to start after Labor Day.

“We’d like to have the schools start consistently after Labor Day, to help the employees for the parks and to let visitors extend their vacations. It’s a pretty significant concept. It’s something that has been working its way through the system.”

Members also discussed the newly-named scholarship program that provides $1,000 annual scholarships to four amusement park employees.

The scholarship program has been named the PAPA Barbara Knoebel Memorial Scholarship after Dick Knoebel’s wife, who passed away from cancer last November, Chubb said.

PAPA member Tim Timco helps coordinate the scholarship program, which raises about $2,500 through fundraising efforts and then also includes additional funds from PAPA.

“The winners are determined by an essay that each applicant writes, delineating their work experience in the amusement park industry and how that helps them with their career at hand as they go through their college years,” Timco said.

NEAAPA enjoys solid turnout for annual summer meeting

Santa's Village in Jefferson, N.H. played host for first time

Mary Wade Burnside - Amusement Today

About 80 members of the New England Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions (NEAAPA) attended their summer meeting Aug. 4 at Santa’s Village in Jefferson, N.H.

“That is the standard number we get, not including the host facility attendees,” said Alan Ramsay, the group’s secretary/treasurer.

The day was more about getting together, meeting old colleagues, having some fun and casting an eye toward the upcoming get-togethers, both the monthly board of directors meetings that are suspended for a busy summer, the social gathering at this year’s International Assn. of Amusement Parks & Attractions conference in Orlando, Fla., and then the big spring meeting, the time and location of which have yet to be determined.

“The meeting was great,” said Cory Hutchinson, the group’s first vice president as well as vice president of Funtown Splashtown USA in Saco, Maine. “Our host at Santa’s Village were over and above excellent. The park was amazing. It was a beautiful day. It was supposed to rain but it held off for us. We had a great turnout and we had a really good time. We got to sample all the ice cream we wanted and the park held a full lobster bake with surf ‘n’ turf, which was excellent. It was really good stuff.”

With the absence of the board’s president, Greg Chiecko of Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Mass., Hutchinson was the highest-ranking board member attending the meeting.

The tradition of serving lobster during the summer meeting goes back to the first NEAAPA meeting held in 1926 at Crescent Park, Riverside, R.I., Ramsay said, “when a full shore dinner was served.

“NEAAPA traces its roots back to 1913 and was officially organized in 1926,” he added.

The board of directors held a meeting during the day, but official business was not discussed, Hutchinson said.

“It’s usually a light meeting,” he said. “We don’t get into things that are too hot and heavy.”

Because New England amusement parks have such a short season – about 13 weeks, Hutchinson said – NEAAPA members do not hold monthly board of directors meetings in the summer and even getting away for the one-day summer meeting can be tricky.

After a summer hiatus, the board of directors will hold its next meet on Thursday, Sept. 9, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Worcester, Mass., Ramsay said.

The next general membership event will be the Tom Morrow Social on Nov. 17 at Maggiano’s in Orlando during IAAPA. The event has been named for Tom Morrow, the longtime operations manager at Canobie Lake Park, who died of cancer three years ago.

“Tom was known as Mr. NEAAPA,” Hutchinson said. “He was at every single meeting every single time. He brought a lot of cohesion to the group.”

The annual spring meeting should be a time for discussing harder-hitting subjects, Hutchinson said. The date and place for that event have not been set, but the board is aiming for late March or early April 2011 as well as considering Rhode Island as the location. The past couple of years, the event has been held in western Massachusetts.

“We try to pick an area that is somewhat in the middle for everybody,” Hutchinson said. “New England is a big place. When we have people coming from as far as New Hampshire and Providence, we try to find something in the middle. At the same time, we want to go to different areas of New England, so we’re looking a little south.”

READ MORE IN THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE OF AMUSEMENT TODAY