FARMINGTON, Utah (ABC4) – Activity at Lagoon Amusement Park over the week felt a bit like it did around this time nearly 60 years ago, and that’s not a good thing.
A pair of fires broke out near the central plaza fountain at the Davis County fun park on Sunday morning, taking with it, the Carousel Candy Shop and Scamper, the children’s bumper car ride, as total losses.
The fire was reminiscent of the 1953 fire that completely destroyed the Midway area of the park, practically the same portion of the grounds, but crews from Farmington, South Davis Metro, Kaysville, Layton, and Hill Air Force Base Fire Departments were able to mitigate the flames to a much smaller loss on Sunday.
The cause of the fire at the park, which is closed for the winter season, is still under investigation.
While the colorful, whimsical candy shop has been reduced to smoldering rubble, officials at the park are grateful that some of the store’s most valuable items (no, not the saltwater taffy or the smorgasbord of fudge varieties) were preserved and kept away from the fire’s reach.
“We had several antique carousel figures on display in the candy shop and we were able to retrieve those before the fire rekindled later in the evening,” Lagoon spokesperson Adam Leishman tells ABC4.com, noting that the park has three rides on the National Historic Registry as well as many other attractions and buildings of historical importance. “We work hard to preserve these historical elements for future generations to enjoy and we are delighted that the carousel figures did not suffer any damage.”
A photograph of a pair of Farmington Fire Department firefighters valiantly carrying out one of the carousel horses from the fire-damaged building served as an amusing visual of an otherwise unfortunate ordeal.
While Leishman states the park’s relief at saving the horses, he describes a bit of melancholy for the loss of the bumper car attraction, which had been in its place at Lagoon since the 1960s. After the extinguishment of the first fire inside the candy store, a second flame rekindled in the old building, spreading much faster and engulfing the shop and the adjacent bumper car ride.
“The park is very sad to lose the children’s bumper cars,” he says. “Scamper was one of the many children’s attractions on the park that multiple generations have enjoyed.”
Another popular attraction for smaller and younger guests, Bulgy the Whale, had also fallen victim to damage during the high wind storms that struck Davis County in Sept. 2020.
“Fortunately we were able to restore Bulgy for our 2021 re-opening,” Leishman notes.
While it is still very early in the process of figuring out how to repurpose the damaged area, Leishman states the park’s management hopes to have it “all buttoned up” before the park’s scheduled re-opening in the springtime.
After all, it’s been done before after a fire at Lagoon, he says.
“The park opened on time in 1954 and Lagoon will do the same in 2022.”
