Thursday, May 08, 2008; Posted: 03:08 AM
Nothing bigger, he admits, than getting Wichitans to buy back into the park.
Murphy, 69, the president of Tulsa-based Murphy Brothers Exposition, is the face and amusement-park expert for a partnership that has bid $2 million to buy the bankrupt theme park.
A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Wichita will be asked this morning to approve the sale, bankruptcy lawyer Ed Nazar said. And if the deal closes on May 30 as planned, Murphy and his partners face months of planning before opening the park in 2009.
Murphy thinks his biggest challenge is convincing Wichitans who lost money on Wild West World season tickets to buy into his concept of fun and higher-quality refreshments.
Murphy's not Thomas Etheredge, from his ever-present wry grin to the six-figure Mercedes he and his partners tool around in.
"You'll notice I don't wear a cowboy hat," said Murphy, flashing that grin from behind his Elvis-style sunglasses.
Murphy operates the midway at 10 state fairs. The centerpiece of his entertainment operation is the 24-year-old Big Splash Water Park in Tulsa.
From 50 years of running carnivals and amusement parks comes the core philosophy Murphy will bring to Wichita: "People like thrills," he said.
"It used to be the freak show, you know... but now our task is to provide all sorts of opportunities for fun: family rides, thrill rides and the more quiet kinds of rides for the younger folks."
The Wichita plan
Murphy has a multipoint plan to revive the park, which went bankrupt about two months after Etheredge opened it last May.
The plan is built around scaled-down admission prices -- somewhere around $15 -- and the hope of kickstarting the park in summer 2009 with attendance of about 200,000.
"We begin by guaranteeing our customers safe, clean fun," Murphy said.
"And we give value for the dollar. There are so very many places you can go to spend your entertainment dollar."
The plan includes:
At least one, and possibly two, steel roller coasters
"It's difficult to give people the quality they're going to find in a $100 million theme park," Murphy said. "But you have to try.
"It's pretty hard to sell a pizza if you leave out the pepperoni. Roller coasters are a very integral part an amusement park, and I won't do a park without one."
More park infrastructure, including hydraulics, for up to 30 rides
A Main Street overhaul, which could include more sit-down restaurants that meet Murphy's commitment to high-quality food or space leased to vendors
What he won't have on Main Street are park-owned stores filled with trinkets. Some estimates put the pre-bankruptcy value of Etheredge's inventory in that area at $500,000.
Increased emphasis on the park's gaming area
"I'll tell you one thing he (Etheredge) did right," Murphy said.
"He built a great gaming area. We'd like to use high-quality games there and set them up to encourage winning. That's where the high-quality prizes would come in."
Shade
Murphy said he was stunned by the lack of natural and man-made shade on the park grounds.
"It certainly needs a bunch of shrubbery and greenery," he said.
"And you need cabanas or something similar around the park, maybe with misters. I mean, all you'd do out there is broil."
Remaking the park's lake
Exactly what Murphy would do with the lake isn't clear. What is clear is that he'll do something, whether it is fountains, the installation of paddleboat rides or something similar.
"Lots of wasted space at that park," he said. "We did our water park in 10 acres. You could have put that park in 10 acres."
A new brand
Wild West World is no more if Murphy buys the park. Job one is to divorce the new park from any vestige of Etheredge and the bankruptcy.
"I'm not sure what we'd do," he said. "We're thinking right now a contest to let Wichitans decide what to call it."
Only strong brands can survive negative publicity, said Tom Bertels, managing partner of Sullivan Higdon & Sink in Wichita.
"In the case of Wild West World, the brand was tarnished from financial woes and disappointed consumers and investors who felt let down when the park closed suddenly," Bertels said in an e-mail.
"The chance for the park to fulfill its brand promise fell through, and when that happens, starting fresh with a new brand would likely increase the chances of success."
Filling the Johnny Western Theatre with events
Murphy said he already has promoters interested in the building. He would like to put an eclectic mix of events in there, from dinner theaters to concerts, on an 11-month schedule.
Getting Wild West World's customers back
Don't throw those Wild West World season passes away. Murphy plans to cut the park's disappointed customers a deal.
"Not sure yet, but we'll do some sort of a discount, maybe some passes, a reduced-price season pass that first year, something like that," he said.
The businessman
For a man who grew up as a risk-taker, it shouldn't be a surprise that entertainment is merely Murphy's core business.
He's in the granite business with partner Garrett Bolks. They also are marketing an anti-staph spray and a mask that kills bacteria.
Plus, he has an amusement park branch in China.
"I really enjoy people, and they're all a little different in every setting," Murphy said.
"I'm kind of a creature who likes to go after a challenge. Can't say I always finish them. I like to get them started and then hand them off to someone, then go do the next project."
It's that expertise and love of challenges that convinced Park City officials and Wichita real estate brokers that Murphy could succeed.
"The amount of expertise he has and the time he's been in business sold me," said Grant Tidemann of J.P. Weigand & Sons, who's brokering the park sale for the bankruptcy court.
"Even though it's a little bit different than Wild West World, he does know that business, and anyone with his kind of longevity has a leg up from the start."
Jack Whitson, Park City's administrator, agreed.
"That's what went wrong out there," Whitson said.
"It's not that Thomas (Etheredge) was a bad businessman, but he got out of his element, and his ego wouldn't let him believe that.
"With Jerry, this is his element."
Reach Bill Wilson at 316-268-6290 or bwilson@wichitaeagle.com.
To see more of The Wichita Eagle, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kansas.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Wichita Eagle, Kan. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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