City buys Gilroy Gardens theme park for $13.2 million

The city known as the Garlic Capital of the World has purchased Gilroy Gardens for $13.2 million.

The city of Gilroy will lease the land, rides and attractions back to a governing board that runs the 536-acre horticultural theme park, according to the Gilroy Dispatch newspaper. (Hat tip to Screamscape.)

The quirky little park, which opens for the season March 21, features a forest of “circus trees,” a monorail garden tour and walk-through waterfalls. Rides include swan-shaped paddleboats, the Garlic Twirl teacup ride and the Quicksilver Express roller coaster. Last year, the park added a walk-around garlic character named Gil.

Cedar Fair, which operates Gilroy Gardens and will continue to manage the park, owns more than a dozen amusement and water parks in North America, including Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park and California’s Great America in Santa Clara.

Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the
Los Angeles Times Funland blog: www.latimes.com/funland.

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

[Photo: Gilroy Gardens]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 at 10:07 am by Brady MacDonald and is filed under Family & Kids, Northern California, Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.