Indiana Beach Boardwalk Resort to Close Permanently

After almost a century of entertaining guests, Indiana Beach Boardwalk Resort in Monticello, Indiana, is set to close for good on Wednesday, February 19th, 2020 according to Lafayette, IN CBS affiliate WLFI.

The closure comes as a result of Apex Park Group, the owners of Indiana Beach since 2015, being unable to find a buyer for the park after putting it up for sale.

Gregg Borman, Senior Vice President of Apex Parks, assured White County Economic Development Director Randy Mitchell that the park’s closure is strictly due to financial reasons, and unrelated to the fatal accident that occurred at the park in 2019.

This news comes after Amusement Today published an article noting that Apex Parks Group contacted multiple other amusement facilities with offers to sell rides from Indiana Beach and its sister park, Fantasy Island in February of 2020. Indiana Beach’s website has been updated to say that the park is now permanently closed.

Fantasy Island is no longer listed on Apex Parks’ website. An official statement has not been made about the Grand Island, NY park at this time.

Indiana Beach opened in 1926 as Ideal Beach, and at the time was owned by the Spackman family, headed by Earl Spackman. The Spackman family owned the park from 1926 to 2008, and the park has evolved over the years from opening with toboggan slides in 1927 to a decent collection of unique roller coasters when the park most recently operated.

Their roller coaster lineup included well-known coasters such as the S&S Steel Hawg, intertwined CCI Wooden Coasters Cornball Express and Hoosier Hurricane, the Schwarzkopf Jet Star Tig’rr and the quirky former dark ride-turned-coaster, Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain (also manufactured by Custom Coasters International). As of its closing, the park had 40 rides and attractions.

6 members of the C101 team (5 pictured above) visited Indiana Beach last year. We showcased the park in our “Small Park Showcase” series.

This is a developing story. We will update it as more information becomes available.

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