By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
CARTHAGE, Mo. — The Fountain of Angels and some other parts of Precious Moments Inspiration Park are being closed and are not expected to open next season.
With the closing, the park will be focusing more on “its core operations,” including the chapel and visitors’ center, according to Dan Huwel, who heads the Precious Moments family of companies.
The action also will close the wedding island, the recreational vehicle park and Super Sam’s Restaurant.
Royal Delights restaurant will remain open.
Eleven full-time workers will lose their jobs, along with about 29 part-time workers “who would have been starting a seasonal layoff at this time,” said Huwel.
The park will continue to employ 40 people.
The closing will not affect PMI and PMC, which are parts of a distribution operation that support the Precious Moments line of figurines originated by park founder Sam Butcher. Those operations employ 130 people.
Huwel said the actions are in response to changes in the number of visitors at the park, particularly the decline in tour-bus traffic in the past several years.
Park attendance is down only about 1 percent, from 205,476 visitors through 2005, compared to 203,053 through Thursday in 2006.
But the number of motor-coach tours had dropped about 21 percent in the last year, while the number of tickets sold at the Fountain of Angels had declined by about 15 percent, according to information provided by the park.
“Our traffic historically consisted of bus tours and people driving in cars. The people in bus tours wanted sit-down meals and booked tickets to the Fountain of Angels,” Huwel said. “Those in cars wander the grounds, stop at the chapel and gift shop and leave. To eat, they would either want to just get a sandwich, or choose to go someplace else.”
In response to the changing patterns, Huwel said Precious Moments is shifting operations “to mark sure the parts of the park that are visited most often are well-maintained and supported.”
He said full-time positions being eliminated included workers at the Fountain of Angels, the wedding island, some grounds-crew workers, and staff in a hospitality group who served bus tours.
He said a small number of events had been booked at the wedding island and “most likely would be canceled.”
Parts of the business that support sales of Precious Moments figurines have increased in the past year and officials expect that to continue.
A large tract of land surrounding Precious Moments is owned by the firm or related interests, and Huwel said he expects that some of that property will eventually be sold off.
He noted much of that land has been annexed into Carthage. Growth in Carthage is headed toward Precious Moments, including the new McCune-Brooks Hospital that is on property that had been owned by the park.
“We anticipate that over a number of years, the area around us will continue to develop,” he said. “With that, our intention is to preserve our core area and the core experience of Precious Moments.”
Timeline
The Precious Moments Chapel opened early in 1987 and the visitor count at the chapel was reported at more than 400,000 in 2001. The Fountain of Angels opened in 1997 and was enclosed in 1999 so that shows could be expanded.
Local News
Precious Moments closing some attractions
- Local News
-
-
Joplin sends team to help Moore
A team of public safety workers from Joplin were deployed Monday night to assist in Moore, Okla.
-
Catholic Charities puts out call for donations to fill two trucks for Oklahoma tornado survivors
Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri is requesting donations to fill two box trucks with needed supplies for the tornado-devastated region of Moore, Okla.
-
Crowder College president to head to MSSU
Alan Marble, who announced Monday that he would retire as president of Crowder College in June, has been hired as special assistant to the president at Missouri Southern State University, MSSU officials announced Tuesday.
-
Two plead guilty to post-tornado wire theft
Two defendants pleaded guilty Monday to stealing copper wire from utility poles in the wake of the May 22, 2011, tornado that struck Joplin. Timothy M. Silveria, 45, of Joplin, and Nycoa K. Kracht, 32, of Laurel, Ind., entered open pleas of guilty in Jasper County Circuit Court to felony counts of theft from a public utility.
-
Vandals cause $37,000 in damage at Joplin business
A Joplin business owner was the victim of a weekend vandalism spree that resulted in an estimated $37,000 in damages and theft, in addition to putting the company out of service for at least two days.
-
Storms cause damage throughout the Four States
Four-State Area residents hunkered down twice Monday to ride out tornadoes and powerful spring storms, then went to work cleaning up. The worst damage from Monday night’s storm was being reported in Ottawa County, Okla., near Wyandotte. That followed a report of an EF-1 tornado early Monday morning near Carthage.
-
Alan Marble, Crowder College president, to retire
After 27 years with Crowder College, President Alan Marble has announced his plans to retire on June 30, the formal end of the academic year. “It’s just the right time,” Marble, 58, said in a telephone interview Monday morning. “I’ve enjoyed, I think, every minute of these 27 years, but it’s time to move on to the next challenge.”
-
Mike Pound: My wife hid the clutter so well, I may be missing
OK, now I’m worried. Late Sunday afternoon, my wife announced that she was going to clean up our kitchen and our family room. When she made that announcement, our 15-year-old daughter, Emma, and I laughed because, at the time, our kitchen and family room were sort of cluttered.
-
EF1 tornado hit Carthage early Monday morning
Clean-up was underway in Carthage after winds estimated at 90 to 100 miles an hour damaged buildings and toppled trees and power lines in the Carthage area just after midnight early Monday.
-
Carthage School Board meeting is postponed
The Carthage School Board meeting set for today has been postponed for due to threats of severe weather.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Joplin sends team to help Moore



