Bell's Amusement Park

Description

Bell's Amusement Park was an amusement park located in Tulsa's Expo Square, part of the Tulsa County Fairground in Oklahoma. It operated for 55 years before closing in 2006. The park was especially known for its large wooden roller coaster, called Zingo, designed by John C. Allen and built in 1966–68.HistoryRobert Bell built a miniature train around his Tulsa house in 1948 and, for a time, ran children's rides at the Admiral Twin drive-in. In March 1951, he started the park at the Fairgrounds with a small collection of rides and amusements including a three car train and a Shetland pony ride. This would later grow into a family-owned amusement park with several dozen rides and attractions.The park was forced to relinquish its position at the Square at the end of the 2006 season when the county did not renew its lease. The reason given for its removal was nonviable business plans, although it asserted that the 2006 season was the most successful one it had seen for years and expansion plans were underway. It paid $135,000 to the Expo in 2006 and a total of $12.5 million since 1951. The midway for the Tulsa State Fair was provided by Jerry Murphy, owner of Murphy Brothers Exposition. The carnival company was granted, in 2006, a 10-year, non-competitive contract to operate the Tulsa State Fair midway. The 2006 contract included the right of first refusal to expand Murphy's operation into the park's tract during the State Fair, if it was no longer a tenant. Following its closing, the 2007 Tulsa State Fair saw a 7% drop in attendance and a 29% hit on midway ticket sales. Some vendors told the fair board that the board's decision not to renew the park's lease was the reason for the drop, and there were some reports that the loss accounted for some of it. The Fairgrounds CEO said that they did not have any theories at the time to account for it. Attendance was up in the recession of 2008 from 2007, according to the Tulsa World.