"Hard times closed [Ghost Town] in 2001, and it instantly went from an average seasonal attendance of 163,500 tourists, to one lonely security guard," writes the Charlotte Observer.
Several buyers presented themselves in that five years, but park creator R.B. Coburn refused one after the other. "I preferred to sell it to someone who would keep it a park, not tear it down for houses," says Coburn, 87.
On Friday, his stubbornness pays off. Ghost Town in the Sky will be back in business, with new owners and $7 million in renovations. Tourists longing for the romance of the Wild West will once again ride chairlifts to the peak of Buck Mountain and see saloon doors swing open, outlaws gunned down in the dust, and cancan girls flipping their skirts and kicking their legs.
Even better for the valley: These played-out fantasies are expected to draw 200,000 in the first season. That's an economic bull's-eye.
"A lot of people didn't realize how important the park was till it closed," says Louise Price, a 30-year park employee who was recently re-hired. "Since it has been gone, motels closed and were torn down, restaurants went under. It was bad."
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