New Adventure Park owners bring in new energy

Party planning service has plans to expand time, services

It's still party time in Moses Lake.

Reports of the demise of Adventure Park, located at 306 S. Beech St., are greatly exaggerated.

South Campus Athletic Club recently purchased the party planning service.

"We've been in business for about two months now," said general manager Tony McCarty. "It's going really, really well. We're doing a lot of birthday parties, we set up with Warden High School to do their safe grad night, where they'll have all the kids from the high school after graduation come in here, and we'll do a lock down with them so they can come in here and play until 4 a.m."

So how does a fitness club go about purchasing an adventure park?

"It would be for family," said Doug Robins, owner of Adventure Park and South Campus in Moses Lake and Ephrata. "The club business is all about family and being together, and this is just another way we're getting the families to be together and spend time together."

"It was just a great opportunity," McCarty said. "What we like about it is the fact that you get the adults into the club, and basically it's a good tie, with being able to have the kids over here and doing stuff with the community."

An attempt to hold a teen night dance club didn't get a very good response and was recently shut down, he said.

"But other than that, we're getting a lot of birthday parties," he said. "We're getting some business parties where we're getting corporates from different businesses that want to come in here and have the place specifically to themselves."

Plans to take over the place took about two months, Robins said, while McCarty said taking over the place took only one day. The business is open Friday through Sunday, but there are plans to expand hours and be open seven days a week.

"They did a good job; they had a beautiful idea," Robins said of the previous owners. "They just needed some help with maybe the energy factor involved in it. So that's what we're planning on bringing to the deal."

Robins said that some of the food has already been changed, the redemption center redone with new prizes and a person has been hired to be in charge of parties.

"Right now we're going to get it built up; we're bringing in the new games and just kind of getting a feel for where we are now," Robins said. "The main thing is that most people haven't been in here. Everybody drives by, and not a lot of people have been in here."

Thirty new arcade games, including Area 51, the dance platform game and Tekken 4, have been brought in to appeal to the older crowds, and the business is also looking at adult parties, Robins said.

"We're trying to appeal to all the different groups," Robins said, suggesting that Adventure Park would be a good place for baseball teams, youth groups and the like. "I think there's a huge need for it, just to give the kids some place to kind of call their spot. We're just looking for some different directions to go."

The business employs eight people and has the ability to have four parties going on at one time, Robins said.

Adventure Park is open Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 10 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.

Robins said that the hope is to be open seven days a week by June.

There is no admission charge to get in.