VIDEO: “It’s been a great ride,” Lagoon official set to retire
Cannibal, Lagoon's newest roller coaster, towers over Lagoon Vice-President of Marketing Dick Andrew as he poses for a portrait at Lagoon in Farmington on Wednesday, February 4, 2015. Andrew will be retiring at the end of February after working at Lagoon for 55 seasons.
Cannibal, Lagoon's newest roller coaster, towers over Lagoon Vice-President of Marketing Dick Andrew as he poses for a portrait at Lagoon in Farmington on Wednesday, February 4, 2015. Andrew will be retiring at the end of February after working at Lagoon for 55 seasons.
FARMINGTON — “It’s been a great ride,” Lagoon vice-president of marketing Dick Andrew says in summing up his 55 years with the Farmington amusement park.
And in his punnie-way, Andrew said, he will now be riding off into the sunset.
At the end of February, the 74-year-old Andrew, “the face of Lagoon,” whose trademark look has always consisted of a colorful bow tie, oval-shaped brown rimmed glasses and on hot or extremely wet days a light-colored woven straw hat, is retiring.
“I’m not looking for another job,” deadpanned Andrew, who anticipates supplanting some of his new-found time by traveling “There are a lot of things in the American-West I want to see,” he said.
But before he goes, an official retirement party will be held for Andrew from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. , Feb. 26 at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Farmington.
“I’m confident I will keep busy,” said Andrew, a proud alum of the University of Utah, having season tickets for all of the university’s major sporting events.
Andrew did all of his undergraduate studies and received his Master Degree from the U. He says, ironically his degree is not in marketing or public relations, but in education administration and education psychology.
But after a handful of years as a history teacher at South High School, which since has closed, Andrew returned to the amusement park, where he had originally began as a teen working seasonally as a member of the park clean-up crew or serving as a game manager while attending Davis High School in Kaysville.
When he graduated from college, Andrew said, he figured that was the end of his days at Lagoon. But five years later, he made his way back to the park working in the front office. It wasn’t until the mid-70s that he became the park spokesman, or what Andrews refers to as “the face of Lagoon,” before quickly adding “certainly not the boss.”
The closest he ever came to leaving the park was during his senior year in high school, Andrew said. Then a game operator, wanting more, Andrew said, he went to talk with a Coast Guard recruiter in Salt Lake City.
At the time the nation was at war and there was a draft taking place, he said. Rather than become drafted in the Army, Andrew said, he believed at the time that being in the Coast Guard would be fun.
“I wanted to start immediately,” Andrew said. But the recruiter explained it would be several months before they could take him on, as late as October, meaning he had a full summer to fill. “If you can’t take me now, I’m not interested,” Andrew recalls telling the recruiter before walking out of the office.
But based on his grin, carefully concealed by his thick grey mustache, it is apparent Andrew has enjoyed his time spent at Lagoon, many of those hours walking the park, or responding to the media.
“It has been a lifetime pleasure to be associated with Lagoon,” Andrew said. “It’s been a great ride. It is something I have liked doing.”
Over the years he has been with the park, Andrew said, he has watched the park add a number of new attractions and a number of seasonal employees, with staff having grown from 150 workers when he first started with the park 59 years ago, to the 2,600 seasonal employees who worked the park last year.
During that same time, Andrew said, he has watched the park extend its days of operation, originally from Memorial Day to Labor Day, to now April through October with the addition of the popular Frightmares.
And there is only bigger things to come, as the park prepares to debut this spring its $22 million steel roller coaster ride “Cannibal”.
“Lagoon is going to get bigger and better. It is the largest family-owned amusement park in the country,” Andrew said.
And regarding the park’s latest ride addition, “I could get on (Cannibal) whether I am here or not. Having said that, I likely won’t be riding,” said Andrew, who of late has avoided riding those high speed thrill rides that carry with it a warning for passengers. But he will attend, although retired, the ride opening event, he said.
But regardless of the excitement that swirls around such events, Andrew said, it will be the people he will miss most.
“Everybody says that. But it’s true,” he said.
Contact reporter Bryon Saxton at 801-625-4244 or bsaxton@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @BryonSaxton.
