Gilroy
– Bonfante Gardens will recast itself as Gilroy Gardens Family
Theme Park in hopes of cashing in on the Garlic Capital’s name
recognition.
Gilroy – Bonfante Gardens will recast itself as Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park in hopes of cashing in on the Garlic Capital’s name recognition.
A garlic bulb-themed mascot known as “Gil” and a roster of new seasonal events also number among the latest marketing strategies aimed at boosting attendance at the west Gilroy horticultural park, now emerging from years of financial struggle.
“When you say Gilroy, it immediately places it. Everybody’ s heard of Gilroy,” said Jim Stellmack, head of marketing for the park. “But we will keep the focus and commitment on the family and educational programs.”
The name change is the first shakeup at the park by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, of Ohio, one of the biggest amusement park operators in the nation. Cedar Fair inherited the contract to operate the park with its 2006 acquisition of former management company Paramount Great America.
The changes by Cedar Fair were met with applause by the nonprofit park’s board of directors.
“Renaming the park is a natural fit for the community,” said park founder and board member Michael Bonfante. “My dedication to the park and passion for horticulture remains unchanged as we begin this new chapter.”
Bonfante sank millions of dollars from the sale of the Nob Hill Foods grocery chain into the horticultural park, and has played a lead role in the park’s management since its inception. Two weeks ago, he and six other board members voted unanimously to approve the name change and a host of other marketing strategies.
The park already offers a number of seasonal attractions that have helped boost earnings in traditionally dead periods for amusement parks, including a Halloween event and Holiday Lights, when the park’s painstakingly manicured gardens and trees are decked out in more than 100,000 lights. The park hopes to beef up those offerings by adding a Summer Safari, a Treasure Hunt, and several other seasonal events.
The newest additions are part of a broader strategy to boost revenues after the park’s flirtation with bankruptcy. In summer 2005, the park completed a financial restructuring that reduced its debt from $70 million to $13 million. The deal hinged on the sale of 33 acres of “excess” land to Shapell Industries, which used the property to add 99 homes to its gated Eagle Ridge golf community in southwest Gilroy.
With the financial restructuring complete, the park is looking to crystallize its identity and attract a wider audience, said Joel Goldsmith, vice president of the park’s board of directors. The park is technically a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to spreading knowledge of horticulture, though its identity has blurred in recent years as Paramount Great America added amusement rides and other attractions found at more traditional amusement parks.
“There’s been a big struggle that the park has had from its inception as to presenting what exactly it is,” Goldsmith said. “Is it a theme park? A garden? What is it and who is it for? We’ve promoted pretty heavily for families, but it’s actually something with appeal to a much wider audience. The rides are geared towards the young kids, but the gardens are also spectacular.”
The name change may not solidify the park’s identity, Goldsmith said, but he’s confident it will raise its profile.
“It’s really the type of venue where you almost have to go to understand what it is,” he said. “The more things we can do to draw people, the better off we’ll be.”
In a sign of the speed of the transition, the park already has a new Web site (www.gilroygardens.org) though the “Bonfante Gardens” name crops up in several areas of the home page. Goldsmith said the Web site, along with road signs throughout the city and at the park entrance, will be changed in coming months.
Councilman Dion Bracco, an appointee to the park’s board of directors, said the name change is generating a lot of new energy.
“We had these marketing guys from Los Angeles come up and tell us, ‘you know you have this name ‘Gilroy’ that’s known worldwide,’ ” Bracco said. “All the sudden it was like somebody turned the lights on.”
On March 31, the park will open for its seventh season.
