Paul Bunyan Amusement Park is getting new look

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

June 9, 1996

By Devlyn Brooks

Staff Writer

Where a 42-foo dry slide once stood, there only remains a patch of dirt seeded with grass. A 100-year-old carousel has been replaced with some pea-rock and the beginnings of a new miniature golf course. These are the new looks of the Paul Bunyan Amusement Park at the shores of Lake Bemidji.

Owner and operator Gary Trueblood, 50, is in his second year of renovating the park, which has been a Bemidji fixture for more than 35 years. The process began last year in combination with the city's renovation of the Chamber of Commerce building and the waterfront area.

Trueblood said this is probably the most dramatic facelift the park has underwent. Even more so than in 1980 when he replaced four of the park's rides with three new ones. That was the year he introduced the Tilt-a-Whirl and the famous train that encircles his park.

"This was the first year we really could ever do a lot with the park," he said. "Along with the waterfront change, we received a secure, long-term lease with the city. Before that, there wasn't any protection to make an investment here. We could have found out late in the summer we weren't going to be here the next year."

Under the protection of the new lease, Trueblood has implemented a new business strategy for the park. He's switched to catering to younger children more than he has in the past.

Today's park-goer will no longer see the dry slide that adorned Lake Bemidji's shore since 1972. It was taken down in the fall of 1994. The 100-year-old carousel that had also been a park mainstay has not been reassembled since the summer of 1994.

In the place of the old is the new. There is a mini-Ferris wheel and a $50,000 ride called the "Berry-go-Round." Also recently introduced were a purple, flying saucer ride inspired by a children's character named "Barney" and a ride in which children fly around in space ships.

"We're attempting to make the park a kid's park," Trueblood said. "We're also trying to leave some of the traditional, larger rides such as the Tilt-a-Whirl and the train so that parents can still participate."

In addition to the new rides, there is a new 18-hole miniature golf course, which has been designed with the Paul Bunyan legend in mind. Trueblood designed the course himself, with a little help, and smiled when he said, "It is kind of corny, but it could be neat if the people get into the spirit of it."

One hole is constructed in the shape of Paul Bunyan's foot. Another is in the shape of his ax, and the other holes are also in the shape of either something to do with Paul Bunyan or logging. Trueblood also has paid an artist to create two ironwork sculptures that will be placed on the course, one of them being a gigantic mosquito.

Completing the park's new look are sidewalks, decorative pavement bricks, lattice work and a terrace where people can relax and eat, all of which are new.

The park will be open for business seven days a week from about 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. this season, he said. And ticket prices range from a $1 a piece to 10 for $8.

"We had decided to spend about $100,000 over the two years of renovation," he said. "We're over that now."

Trueblood said he does not know whether the new strategy will work, but said he likes the new look because it makes the park a more pleasant place to be.

"I've spent a fair amount of money here," he said. "So, I guess I'm assuming I can make something work."