GILROY
– Paramount Parks management takeover of Gilroy’s picturesque
but struggling Bonfante Gardens theme park has Kirsten Carr, the
city’s tourism champion, excited.
GILROY – Paramount Parks management takeover of Gilroy’s picturesque but struggling Bonfante Gardens theme park has Kirsten Carr, the city’s tourism champion, excited.
The executive director of the city’s Visitors Bureau said it’s certainly good news that the gardens – a major tourist attraction for the area – will reopen. And she expressed optimism about how the increased marketing blitz expected by the company could benefit Gilroy as a whole.
“We’re thrilled the park will open this year and open for a full season, because it’s a great asset to the tourism community,” she said. “And Paramount is well-respected in the tourism industry.”
Meanwhile, Paramount executives have been making the rounds since Monday’s announcement, meeting with park employees and city leaders to gather information and discuss their intentions. City officials said Thursday they were impressed with the company’s level of professionalism.
“I don’t think anyone had under 15 years experience with the company,” said Mayor Tom Springer. “These area people who have ‘been there, done that’ in a wide variety of things.”
Bonfante Gardens’ leaders announced this week that Paramount Parks, one of the nation’s leading theme park operators and the company that owns Great America in Santa Clara, had entered a five-year deal to manage the park located on Hecker Pass at the city’s western boundary.
Besides helping the horticultural wonderland, created by former Nob Hill Foods owner Michael Bonfante who poured more than $60 million into the park, run more efficiently and providing valuable strategic direction to decision-makers on the park’s nonprofit board of directors, marketing is a major cornerstone of the agreement.
Bonfante’s local board of directors, the park’s managers, hope Paramount’s greater expertise and clout will help expand knowledge about the park from the local level to a regional area and boost attendance numbers that have fallen short of expectations since the park opened on June 15, 2001.
Although they haven’t met with Paramount yet and don’t expect to until the company officials have gained a stronger footing here, Carr said bureau officials do plan to explore a marketing partnership.
“We figured we’d give them a chance to get unpacked before we start pounding on their doors and say ‘Come do this with us,’ ” she said.
In the past, Bonfante Gardens has been one of several cooperative marketing partners – along with wineries and hotels – that group together through the bureau to fund expensive advertising buys in regional travel media outlets such as American Automobile Association publications or Central Coast Guide.
But Great America already has a substantial marketing effort, existing clientele and customer lists that Bonfante can “piggyback” off, Bonfante officials said when they announced the deal, and cooperative marketing between the two parks is a strong possibility.
Carr said that association alone could enhance the area’s reputation as an overnight destination, because families may decide to stay here in order to visit both parks.
“It gives them another reason to spend the night, which makes our hotels happy,” she said. “And when (they’re) here to visit the parks, they could visit our wineries and shopping (destinations) as well.”
The arrangement could also provide greater appeal to families with both teenagers and younger children, she said.
“As we’ve said all along, Bonfante Gardens is not a teen-favorite park,” she said. “But now that fans have both they may say, ‘We’ll go to Gilroy for the weekend, go to Bonfante one day and Great America the next.’ ”
Paramount’s national-scale name could also draw more attention to the gardens, she said.
“It’s a name we can all identify,” she said. “People automatically give respect to the name because of the longevity and diversity and the different companies they own. They’re respected for longevity and quality of service.”
Meanwhile, city officials who met with Paramount representatives Wednesday said they were comfortable with the company’s presence and intentions.
Springer, City Manager Jay Baksa and Councilman Al Pinheiro, a Bonfante board member, met with Bonfante board president Bob Kraemer and Paramount Parks officials to introduce themselves and the city structure, discuss intentions and offer their assistance.
City officials said the city’s role and involvement with the park will not change because of the new agreement.
The city has acted as a pass-through authority to help issue bonds that financed the park, but assumes no financial responsibility. Because the park is set up as a community benefit nonprofit organization, future charitable donations would also be funneled through the city.
“Nothing changes,” Baksa said.
Paramount officials also stressed that they plan to retain the park’s existing atmosphere, Springer said.
“They really do want to run it exactly as it is, a family-oriented-type park,” he said. It’s not going to be a neon-lights, noisy thing.
“They say this is a wonderful opportunity to branch out into different types of theme parks … with a more relaxed setting.”
Even if the company hypothetically wanted to introduce larger-scale rides or other major changes, the company would have to go through the park’s board of directors, and city officials said such moves would also trigger a city planning review that would likely include the City Council. The park has a master plan approved by the city that details future improvements and rides.
“In their comments to us, they don’t plan any changes,” Baksa said. “They want to keep the uniqueness.”
Valerie Vanni, co-owner of Solis Winery on Hecker Pass and president of the Santa Clara Valley Winegrowers – who also have a significant presence along the rural route – said she’s feeling hopeful about the purchase.
“It’s such a beautiful park,” she said. “It’s hard to know what this change will mean, but I know the board is very professional and really looked at all avenues available to help reopen it.
“It’s a really important part of what continues to draw tourism to Gilroy.”
Some observers, such as Councilman Bob Dillon, expect Paramount to eventually make an offer to purchase the park – although they don’t necessarily see that as a negative thing.
“They’re certainly deeper financially, and Paramount has got great parks,” he said.
Kraemer has said Bonfante officials are looking to Paramount for the long-term and would ideally renew the management agreement in perpetuity. He said Thursday that there have not been substantial discussions with the company about any arrangements but the five-year agreement.
“(We) want Paramount to be here forever,” he said. “As far as what that looks like after five years … we’re so far from having that as a topic that either of us are worried about.”
