Colorful canopy is disassembled by crews on Joyland’s grounds. Photo by Urvi Dalal.
This second part of The Hub’s series on Joyland Amusement Park chronicles its owner’s perspective of its failed acquisition. Read the first part of the series here.
By Reece Nations, Graduate Editor
MACKENZIE PARK – The profits from the sales of Joyland Amusement Park assets will go towards reimbursing David and Kristi Dean for all the sunk costs they endured for many years in managing and operating the family entertainment center.
For starters, the tract is located below ridgeline and nestled near North Fork Double Mountain Fork Brazos River. This means that even modest amounts of rain lead to exceptional amounts of flooding.
Markings indicating the highest recorded water levels at the park. Photo by Urvi Dalal.
Every inch of rain brings about a foot of water in front of a roller coaster called “The Galaxy,” David Dean estimated. In 2015, the park experienced over four feet of flooding in front of the coaster. In 2017, that flood level was surpassed when even worse torrential rain swept through. These levels were unofficially recorded by marks made on a light pole that stands nearby.
Each time the park flooded the owners fought their way back to being a functional amusement center by Springtime. This war was waged only after the lease with the city had to be continually renewed and paid for, meaning the owners already operated from a disadvantage because they had to recoup those losses somehow.
Cleanup efforts following the floods were time-consuming and would delay repairs to rides. Further, issues with vandalism have persisted for years now and night security had to be employed to deter and prevent incidents.
“Vandalism has been a problem for us for 10 or 15 years, and it has gotten worse,” Dean said, shaking his head at the thought. “The vandalism through the years has really been heartbreaking. They’ve really torn some stuff up. We’ve gotten some of the little farts on cameras before and there’s been a few arrests made, but for the most part, even with a picture of them they just don’t get caught enough.”
All of these issues and more were brought up by Dean to the prospective owners of Joyland at the outset of their acquisition discussions. The least he could do, Dean thought, was to be upfront about all of the issues he and Kristi had to deal with during their tenure.
Some other parties approached the Deans about buying Joyland prior to Jim and Kai Evans and Darryl and Stephanie Holland’s attempt to make a move. These people were successful in their own right and seemed serious about making an offer, but Dean said they were all “doctors and lawyers” who “didn’t know a half-inch wrench from a screwdriver.”
Having a working knowledge of what needs to be done to keep an amusement park running was critical information that any prospective buyers would need. David and Kristi would always put every penny they made back into the business and never saved anything for retirement. The liquidation process has gone well so far, he said, but slower than he would like.
“Since we didn’t end up having an auction, well, it’s going to go a little bit slower here,” Dean said. “It enables us to get a little of a better price for some of the equipment.”
Their initial plans for an auction were scrapped when new buyers with experience in running family entertainment centers reached out to attempt to work out a deal. This time around felt different to David, who noted that the enthusiastic entrepreneurs were saying all the right things about preserving the park to keep its history in place.
When the group first expressed interest, Dean was thorough in telling them exactly what needed to be done around the park and what the upkeep would consist of. Despite the intense workload required, they seemed unphased and determined to make a deal with the Deans.
“We kept saying ‘I don’t think they know the amount of work they’re going to have to do,’” he said. “In the middle of the summer, 80 to 100 hours of work a week for me is not uncommon at all. … You run about three or four months of that, and it really wears you out especially as your miles rack up on your odometer.”
The park’s tallest ride stands alone, situated below ridgeline. Photo by Urvi Dalal.
Then came excuses that would often raise his eyebrows. Early on in the process, the would-be buyer group raised concerns about the park’s liability insurance, which Dean said was addressed by the agent that helped broker the deal.
Admittedly, insurance is one of the foremost costs associated with owning the amusement park, he said. However, in Dean’s recounting of events, the issue was settled when their agent had laid out the transition “for them to come right in and go with it.”
“So we thought, ‘That’s not a legitimate excuse,'” Dean said disappointedly. “It obviously just kind of kept going from there. I just don’t think they had what it took to run [Joyland] successfully, and I think as time went along, it became more and more apparent.
“As we got into December [2021], we said, ‘We’re really struggling over here and we’re going to need to close on this pretty soon, and so a number of our employees went to work for them over there.”
By “over there,” Dean means Adventure Park, located at 5110 29th Drive, within eyesight of the Marsha Sharp Freeway. This business is owned by the Evans, but they and the Hollands also own other various local entertainment venues.
In an interview with the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal after the bid for Joyland was announced, Darryl Holland remarked on the group’s shared history of “preserving and promoting legacy businesses.” Holland also described the bid as an “effort to save a landmark…”
But to Dean, their efforts boiled down to dollars and cents and, sadly, the group just couldn’t put their money where their mouths were. Running a historic amusement park seems like it’s all fun and games, sure, but Dean said the reality of what the Evans and Hollands faced must have shaken their confidence.
Log ride cars sit untouched, ready to be sold in the park’s liquidation. Photo by Urvi Dalal.
“You stand out there at the gate while Joyland’s operating, the lights are on and the park is full of people,” he said. “You see us taking in all this money and you’d think that’s wonderful glitz and glamour. … But it’s the stuff behind the glitz and glamour – it’s the stuff every day that you’re showing up to deal with at work. I think they just didn’t realize how much it was going to take.”
Therein lies the main reason why the proposed deal to buy the park inevitably failed, Dean said. Keeping up with things around Joyland takes work – not money.
David told The Hub@TTU that he feels bad about getting people’s hopes up despite doing all he could to salvage their partnership with the Evans and Hollands. Now, all that’s left for him and Kristi to do is focus on liquidating the park’s last vestiges.
Although David and Kristi said they’re still working out plans for the long-term future, selling the rides should do enough to support them for a time. Once the current lease on the land finally expires in 2024, the City of Lubbock will be able to do with it as they please – although no plans are yet in the works.
“We’ve been [operating] a small business all these years, and we always put [profits] back into the business,” he said. “[We have] no real retirement, so we’re trying to make this our retirement now.”
About Reece Nations
