GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. – Lake City Amusement Park is permanently shut down, but employees say it’s the first they’ve heard of it.
Rumors swirled in Guntersville Thursday about the situation, with more questions than answers.
WHNT News 19’s Laura Christmas went to the park to get answers about the situation. The park’s Facebook page says it will re-open Friday after being closed for some repairs, and some employees say they’re working under that assumption, too.
Other employees told WHNT News 19 the park would open Thursday at two o’clock. Others said they had to be back at the park on Friday, and that the park wasn’t closed.
Hearing rumors, multiple other employees came to the empty park wanting to know if they had jobs still, saying they hadn’t heard anything from the owners. James Goble was one of those employees. He says he hasn’t heard from park management or the owners. “I’ve tried calling them and I can’t get an answer or anything,” Goble says.
He says he is worried about his paycheck. “My son’s birthday was Monday and I couldn’t afford to buy him anything or take him to do something for his birthday so I was expecting this check to, and I don’t even know if I’ll be able to get it or not.”
Season pass holders came to the park Thursday afternoon to see if they would be reimbursed.
After multiple attempts to reach out to the park owners and the marketing director, WHNT News 19 received the following release:
“Our apologies to our community and our customers. Lake City Amusement Park is closing permanently due to the fact that we lost our financial backing. We have exhausted all avenues in the search for another investor and we simply don’t have the resources to carry on . All season pass holders can send a refund request to the following address: PO Box 1187 Guntersville, AL 35976.”
The owners say the park is permanently closed as of Thursday. There will be no measures taken to re-open in the future.
The park owners say up to the current pay period, all employees that are paid by Lake City Amusement Park are paid in full.
The theme park opened in April of this year, and it has more than 35 rides and attractions.
