Utah lawmaker Steve Handy known as Lagoon expert, author
Utah Rep. Steve Handy is shown here Thursday, April 7, 2016, at Lagoon with the coffee table book he wrote about the Utah amusement park.
This image shows the cover of a coffee table book about the history of Lagoon. The book is available at the amusement park or on-line at Amazon.com.
Rep. Stephen G. Handy of Layton was one of many GOP lawmakers who received a failing grade from Utah GrassRoots for his legislative votes. Handy said he voted in line with his constituents.
This image shows a recent panoramic view of Lagoon amusement park. The park's history is documented in a new coffee table book "America’s Largest Family-Owned Amusement Park: Lagoon, operating since 1886.”
This photo depicts the early stages of The Lagoon, when it was located at a spot where Saltair now stands today.
This billboard from the 1930's shows the slogan "Swim in water fit to drink," which was a common theme for advertising at that time.
This photo documents a 1953 fire that destroyed much of the west side of Lagoon.
This photo documents some of the aftermath of a 1953 fire at Lagoon.
FARMINGTON — Utah Rep. Steve Handy (R, District 16) is known for many life accomplishments.
Promoting himself as the “handy man” has brought him to countless avenues, including eight years on the Layton City Council.
And now, he’s known as the expert on the Lagoon amusement park.
“People come up and think I ought to know all kinds of things like how much people have been paid and what concerts have been at Lagoon,” he said.
A coffee table book Handy wrote about one of Utah’s best-known attractions, “America’s Largest Family-Owned Amusement Park: Lagoon, operating since 1886” (Lagoon Corporation, Inc., $34.95) has led him to many conversations about the oddities of the park that are documented in the book.
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Utah Rep. Steve Handy is shown here Thursday, April 7, 2016, at Lagoon with the coffee table book he wrote about the Utah amusement park.
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This image shows the cover of a coffee table book about the history of Lagoon. The book is available at the amusement park or on-line at Amazon.com.
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Rep. Stephen G. Handy of Layton was one of many GOP lawmakers who received a failing grade from Utah GrassRoots for his legislative votes. Handy said he voted in line with his constituents.
-
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This image shows a recent panoramic view of Lagoon amusement park. The park’s history is documented in a new coffee table book “America’s Largest Family-Owned Amusement Park: Lagoon, operating since 1886.”
-
-
This photo depicts the early stages of The Lagoon, when it was located at a spot where Saltair now stands today.
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This billboard from the 1930’s shows the slogan “Swim in water fit to drink,” which was a common theme for advertising at that time.
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This photo documents a 1953 fire that destroyed much of the west side of Lagoon.
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This photo documents some of the aftermath of a 1953 fire at Lagoon.
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This is an advertisement for The Lagoon Amusement Park, as it was then called, in 1929.
A professional promoter himself, Handy laughs about all the strategies two families have employed to advertise the business.
“At Lagoon, there has been no lack of promotions,” he said. “They’ve tried everything in 130 years.”
Examples are the recreation of a California beach and a promotion with “bathing beauties” who were wearing high heels.
His favorite strategy is an ad in 1929 that offered Lagoon visitors 90 cents worth of entertainment for 50 cents. “I kept running into really funny stuff like that,” he said.
Story continues below photo.
Supplied by Lagoon
This is an advertisement for The Lagoon Amusement Park, as it was then called, in 1929.
As a lawmaker himself, Handy is entertained by telling about open betting on horse racing at Lagoon and how the Utah Legislature shut that down nearly a century ago.
Handy also laughs about the response of well-known Davis County resident Haven J. Barlow, former president of the Utah Senate, who asked Handy how he hired so many actors to stand by historic cars for a brown-tinged photo from the early days of Lagoon in its current location.
“That’s an authentic photo,” he says with a huge smile. “There’s nothing like historic pictures from those days.”
There’s also a sad story to tell about a 1953 fire that destroyed much of the west side of the park.
Before Handy began work on the book, he said the history of Lagoon was kind of like a ride on Lagoon’s Scrambler.
“I found stuff all over the place,” he said. He told stories of visiting the Utah Historical Society and archives of the LDS Church as well as gleaning information from a former Lagoon employee who hosts a website where fans document memories.
The stories from people who tell Handy about their favorite experiences at Lagoon are endless.
“I’ve had so many people tell me ‘I was at such and such a concert,'” he said.
“A man came up to me in the barber shop and told me that his brother was a chauffeur for The Rolling Stones when they came to Lagoon,” Handy said. “He had Mick Jagger in his car in the 1960’s.”
He said owners learned they had to tone down the concert scene at Lagoon in order to earn the “family friendly” image they wanted.
“For a while, they were attracting the wrong crowd,” he said.
Handy said he liked discovering how rare it is for a family-owned park to survive so many years.
“It’s not a corporate asset they’re just using,” Handy quotes Jim Futrell, historian for the National Amusement Park Historical Association. ” That speaks to the care of the owners. The chance of an incident is greatly reduced because it would not only reflect on the park, but also the family.”
Handy credits graphic designer John Gibby for the book’s visual appeal. “What an incredible job he did,” Handy said, pointing specifically to timelines that show Lagoon as a contemporary to the Wright Brothers and World War I.
Handy said he was hired for what has become the roller-coaster ride of his life because he’d been involved in other book projects. The former marketing director at Deseret News, he was put in charge of several books the newspaper produced to expand coverage.
Then employed at First National Bank, Handy wrote the history of the bank, which led him to write the 100-year history of McKay-Dee Hospital.
Handy’s next adventure is a history of the housing at Hill Air Force Base.
Park officials are having a special on Handy’s handiwork through the month of April.
Anyone who purchases the book from Lagoon at its annex, located at the corner of Park Lane and Main Street in Farmington, will receive $10 off.
You may reach reporter JaNae Francis at 801-625-4228. Follow her on Twitter at @JaNaeFrancisSE or like her on Facebook.