During a forum this week, Gurnee mayor candidates discussed Six Flags financial difficulty pertaining to their local park, Six Flags Great America, which generates over $2 million in tax revenue for the city each year.
The various candidates all seem to think if Six Flags declares bankruptcy that it will start closing parks. This is definitely not the case for Six Flags Great America, one of the chains top performing parks. Great America is in a prime location between Milwaukee and Chicago and Six Flags would be stupid to shut it down or sell it.
In the very unlikely possibility that Six Flags were to sell Great America, it would probably still remain an amusement park. Great America has been a staple of Illinois tourism for almost 3 decades and it really wouldn’t be in Gurnee’s best interest to see it shut down.
One of the candidates, Maniscalco, believes that the park should close because he is “worried about what goes on there” and it is “too costly for families.” I’m not sure if he has visited the park in recent years but the new management has cleaned up some of the issues from earlier this decade. The new management already is making the park more family friendly, and in terms of costs, you can get a season pass at Six Flags for the price of one day at Disney.
That’s it for my rant today, I have a vested interest in Six Flags Great America because it is the park I grew up at and love.
By the way, the article detailing this can be seen @ the Daily Herald.
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