WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Blaming the poor weather for attendance woes, Wild West World filed for bankruptcy just two months after the $30 million destination theme park opened in suburban Wichita.
The theme park, which opened to the public in Park City on May 5, announced Monday it would close immediately and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company said it was looking for a new buyer with 'deeper pockets' to run the park.
The bankruptcy leaves hundreds of unpaid creditors -- including Park City, which is owed more than $2 million for industrial revenue bonds and other equipment -- in a lurch. The bankruptcy filing lists millions more owed to banks, ride manufacturers, vendors and season ticket holders.
Chief Executive Officer Thomas Etheredge once estimated the destination theme park, located just off Interstate 135 in Park City, would draw a half million visitors. The mock frontier town attraction offered 24 rides on 40 acres.
According to the bankruptcy filing, the park owes $14.96 million to secured creditors for property, equipment and vehicles; $801,000 in unpaid federal, state and local taxes; and $8.16 million to other unsecured creditors, the bankruptcy filing showed.
According to the filing, the biggest creditors include First National Bank of Southern Kansas, which is owed $6.19 million; Etheredge and his wife, who are owed $3.8 million; and Citizens Bank of Wichita, which is owed $1.8 million.
The company blamed the weather for its financial problems. It noted that since the park opened to the public, about 50 of the last 60 days had poor weather, including rain and tornadoes. The company pointed specifically to a tornado that destroyed more than 90 percent of the south-central Kansas town of Greensburg, as well as to flooding around the state.
'On grand opening day, the community wasn't in a theme park mood. The entire state was in shock as a result of the catastrophic Greensburg tornado the night before that wiped a nearby community literally off the map,' Etheredge said in a written statement. 'And as we all know the rain continued in May and June.'
'We built the park as we said, but the weather and lack of cash flow have made it impossible for us to keep it open,' he said. 'It pains us to reach this point, but we have to close the park and find a buyer who can reopen and run it. We hate to do it, but we don't see any other alternative.'
Etheredge said it was too emotional a time for him and his wife to elaborate further on the events that led up to the bankruptcy filing.
The company said that without a buyer, Wild West will not reopen.
'But no matter what, we will press on. For Wild West World represented to the Etheredge family literally their entire heart and soul. It represented a Kansas dream,' Etheredge said.
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© 2007 AFX News
