Old Indiana Fun Park

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The most recent park logo found on a 1995 park brochure

The Old Indiana Fun Park was an amusement park located near Thorntown, Indiana off of I-65 at 7230N 350W. It is now a privately owned property that has been tranformed into the states largest private wildlifed restoration project.

1 The Early Years (1983-1987)
2 The Later Years and Closure (1988-1997)
3 Six Flags Years (1997-2002)
4 Sunshine Properties Years (2002-Present)
5 External links

[edit] The Early Years (1983-1987)

Old Indiana Fun Park opened under the name "Middle Country Renaissance Festival" during August 1983. It ran for 6 weekends until the end of the first weekend of October 1983. Construction of a ride park started in 1984 and it opened on June 9, 1985 as “Middle Country USA”. They gradually added rides until 1996, but remained mostly a picnic area and campground with a few attractions. In the spring of 1987 the park filed Chapter 11 because attendance wasn't sufficient to meet expenses and further development costs. It opened for that season under bankruptcy court supervision.

[edit] The Later Years and Closure (1988-1997)

The park logo found on a 1988 park brochure

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On Thursday, August 11, 1996, 4-year-old Emily Hunt was paralyzed from the chest down and her 57-year-old grandmother, Nancy Jones, was killed after the miniature train ride at the Old Indiana Fun Park derailed and overturned as it approached a curve. The two victims were crushed under the weight of the cars. Upon investigation, the train was traveling much faster than its design speed of 12 miles per hour.

The ride operator claimed to have applied the brakes as the train neared the curve, but it was discovered that many of the ride's brakes were either broken, missing, or not connected, and that most of the anti-derailment devices were missing. The speedometer was broken, along with the governor, which limits the speed of the train. The track was littered with broken ride parts.

The ride passed two state inspections in the 3-month period prior to the accident, before the safety inspector admitted that he was not qualified to inspect amusement rides. A state review of the park's own records showed that the train had derailed 79 times in the 2 months prior to the accident, and as many as nine times in a single day.

The owners of Old Indiana Fun Park admitted negligence, but denied knowing anything about the condition of the ride prior to the accident. They later declared bankruptcy, and most of the rides at the park were auctioned on February 22, 1997. For example, the park’s log flume ride was installed at Idlewild Park in Latrobe, Pennsylvania in 2005. The Super Round-Up, Bumper Cars and Flying Scooters now operate at Conneaut Lake Park in Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania. In a separate deal, the land was sold to Premier Parks (now Six Flags).

[edit] Six Flags Years (1997-2002)

Premier Parks was planning to redevelop the park and open it in 1999. They purchased four roller coasters from the closed Opryland USA park in Nashville, TN and transported them to the site. No changes to the site came during 1999. During the year 2000 two more roller coasters from Riverside Park (now Six Flags New England) arrived at the park and were placed in the old parking lot along with the other four and, again, the park sat with no activity.

In July 2002 Six Flags sold the 330 acre Old Indiana property to Trevor Gray, former owner of Sunshine Holdings (containing tanning bed company ETS and lotion company Australian Gold)and now of Sunshine Properties. Plans are to turn the property into a nature preserve.

[edit] Sunshine Properties Years (2002-Present)

Six roller coasters were still on site when Six Flags sold the property. The Rock n' Roller Coaster was relocated to the Great Escape in Lake George, NY. The Black Widow, Little Rickies Little Twister and Wabash Cannonball were scrapped by an independent contractor with other rides and buildings from the park. When Six Flags sold the property, it included provisions for Six Flags to keep the rides there for a period of 4 years. This period ended on April 1, 2006 and the Screamin' Delta Demon (Intamin/Giovanola Bobsled) and the train for Chaos (Vekoma Illusion) were still on site as of that time. But, by June 11, 2006, all of the rides were gone. The property now contains Indianas largest private nature preserve. Sunshine Properties, in conjunction with JFNEW company. It is reported that tens of thousands of native trees have been planted, acres of wet land have been established as well as a large areas of native praire. The amount of native birds and other wildlife in the area has been reported to have increased exponentially. The project, as it is still underway, is the largest private nature preservation project in the state. Misconceptions are common among locals in the area due to the 10 foot high fence surrounded the property as well as several adjoining properties. Some rumors have existed that the owner, Trevor Gray, was starting a deer farm or a “pay to hunt” establishment. In actuality the fences are only to help Gray and other deer biologist manage the deer herd within. Gray who is an avid hunter does hunt on the property.