Tweetsie Stays On Track
Wild West Theme Park Renews 4-Year Lease

By Scott Nicholson

Tweetsie Railroad got a nice present for its Golden Anniversary: a renewed lease that will keep the Wild West theme park at its current location for at least the next four years.

Chris Robbins, general manager of Tweetsie, said the agreement recently had been reached with Dee Arthur Properties, a group that owns 142 acres of the park territory between Boone and Blowing Rock. The lease had been set to expire after the season, which might have forced a move from the site where the Tweetsie whistle first blew in 1957.

Last fall, Tweetsie reached a long-term agreement with members of the Broyhill family to lease 46 acres of the site. Tweetsie also owns 97 acres of the theme park property, which covers nearly 300 acres.

Tweetsie is continuing to look at other sites in case it has to move in four years, and Robbins confirmed the theme park is still exploring a site in Wilkes County but the preferred option is to stay at its current location. “There’s a lot going on, but there are a lot of unknowns,” Robbins said. “Our number one goal is staying here.”

A firm that had been looking at several sites in both Wilkes and Catawba counties has been kept on retainer, and a 187-acre site near North Wilkesboro reported last year as a possible destination for the theme park was sold as a subdivision. The firm has looked at as many as nine sites in Wilkes County and Robbins said the firm would continue to seek new sites until the park’s long-term future was settled.

“That is Plan B,” Robbins said, adding there were mainly complex issues to be addressed whether the park moves or not.

Robbins has said the park would likely remain in the North Carolina mountains if it had to move, and the theme park has also been negotiating potential economic development incentives with Watauga County. However, it’s unlikely the park would move to a new location in Watauga County because of high land prices and shortage of large tracts with suitable terrain.

The tourist attraction is adding four new rides for its 50th anniversary season. Robbins said the new rides were a Tornado, a free-fall ride, a Round Up spin ride and a pirate-themed Dark Ride. The new rides are designed to appeal to children aged 8 and up, Robbins said.

He said the park would continue to make year-to-year plans over the course of the lease agreement, and also added Bob The Builder events for July, while continuing popular favorites like Thomas the Tank Engine, Fourth of July fireworks, dog shows, the Riders in the Sky, Rail Fan days and the Ghost Train Halloween Festival.

The park attracts about 250,000 visitors a year. A private study commissioned by Tweetsie showed it had an annual impact of $27.4 million on the region and employed 225 people during the season, most of them from the immediate region.

Tweetsie opens for its Golden Anniversary Season on May 4 at 9 a.m.