Wanna Buy A Tilt A Whirl? Items From Heritage Square To Be Auctioned Off
GOLDEN, Colo. (CBS4)- Rides and other items from a now-closed hillside amusement park in Jefferson County will be auctioned off later this month.
Heritage Square Amusement Park in Golden closed over the summer. It was the last vestige of a once-thriving entertainment venue in Golden.
Originally conceived as a Denver-area Disneyland, the park grew from the dreams of Walter Francis Cobb and John Calvin Sutton in the late 1950s. The pair purchased 600 acres at the foot of Apex Gulch southwest of Golden and incorporated the name "Magic Mountain" for the project. They even hired former Disneyland artists and engineers to design and build it.
Magic Mountain included a small tow-roped ski area, one of the nation's first to use artificial snow. Eventually scaled down, it opened in 1960 as the first theme park outside California. And, due to financial difficulties, it operated less than one full season.
The site sat vacant until the Woodmoor Corporation purchased it in 1970 and re-opened it a year later as Heritage Square. Ownership changed several times, as did the tenants and vendors.
In 2015, the property's manager announced a closure of everything but the amusement park.
The amusement park owner, Alan Bader, said at the time, "We have no intention of closing." He even expressed hope then for expanding the amusement park.
But the closure earlier this year came as part of a settlement between the landlord and Bader.
The auction of the items from the park will take place on Oct. 25 at 10:30 a.m. at the former Heritage Square site. According to the auction company, the sale will include rides, arcade games, go kart fleets, bumper boats, a zip line, swan paddle boats and restaurant equipment. People interested in previewing the items can go to the park in the afternoon the day before the sale to take a look.
The heritageamusementpark.com website states "items are sold as is, where is, without any warranties whatsoever whether express or implied." The park's management and staff also sent the following message to former customers:
Thank you for 20 years of support. We will always cherish the memories!!
