Greenhills Adventure Park to close, make way for housing blocks at Victor Harbor
AFTER more than three decades of operation, the Greenhills Adventure Park will close its doors next year as construction begins on the first stage of a housing development on the land.
AFTER more than three decades of operation, the Greenhills Adventure Park will close its doors next year.
The Advertiser understands the Victor Harbor park will close on May 1, 2016.
The park first opened in 1982 and has been a source of entertainment — with water slides, golf, archery, go-carts and rock climbing — for locals and tourists alike.
Property developers purchased the land in 2009 and was leasing it back to Greenhills Adventure Park managing director Meg Whibley.
Now there are plans to build housing allotments, and blocks have been sold for the past 12 months, the Victor Harbor Times reported.
Ms Whibley said stage one of the planned 66 building allotments would start soon in Greenhills overflow carpark.
“It will make keeping Greenhill open a little difficult,” she said.
“We’ve worked together over the past six years and we want to finish on a high at the end of the April school holidays.”
Ms Whibley said an increase to electricity and water bills have made the past three years hard for the park.
“My family started the park 33 years ago, so it’s (closure is) going to be a sad day,” she said.
The park currently employs three fulltime staff, and hires up to 30 new seasonal staff every year.
“We’ve given a lot of young people a start,” she said.
“The staff that work here are emotionally involved and I’m so proud that they love the place as much as we do.
“We’re not flashy, bright paints and mechanical rides. We’re a day out with the family, with birds and in a park.”
Warm weather on the weekend brought many people to Greenhills.
Ms Whibley said have also slashed the price of the park’s annual pass to almost half.
“This is it,” she said. “The last season. But we will provide a lot of entertainment this summer.”
Let us know your memories of Greenhills in the comments, and if you have any old photos we’d love to see them — send us a private message via our Facebook page
