All photos: Sean Randall. View full-sized image.
ACE Northwest has been wanting to hold an event at Silverwood Theme Park in Athol, Idaho, for some time now, especially because it has been nearly a decade since one was held at the region's flagship park. After back-and-forth negotiations that spanned nearly two years regarding price-points and requirements in total group size, the regional representative team decided that if they couldn’t find a solution, they would come to the park anyway as an informal event. It was "Silverwood or Bust!", which the region decided to call the event.
The region informed the park that its members would love to visit even without an official event and that some ACE members who were visiting the region for the upcoming Preservation Conference being held in nearby Oregon and Washington would likely visit Silverwood as well. The park worked with the Northwest region and provided a discount code for those who participated, along with one for the conference.
The evening prior brought concern because wildfire smoke throughout the region was measured at nearly hazardous levels at Silverwood. Nearby Oaks Park had closed for the rest of that day. Thankfully, the morning of the event on July 18, most of the smoke had cleared, and members met at the gate to start the day.
Meeting them at the park was the park owner and manager of Leavenworth Adventure Park, John Sutherland, whom Regional Representative Sean Randall and Assistant Regional Rep Steve Gzesh met the day prior. He was a wonderful addition to the group, and everyone enjoyed having him tag along.
Sean Randall, John Niehaus and Justin King at the ACE Roller Coaster Landmark plaque for Corkscrew.
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The day started with an informal takeover of Timber Terror since the coaster has only one train. This was followed by a spontaneous informal takeover of nearby Tremors, which had a short line. Most of the group stuck together and proceeded to coasters such as Stunt Pilot, where they encountered some non-ACE enthusiasts who were also big fans of Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC).
At lunch time, everyone in the group opted for the all-day buffet special at the Chuckwagon restaurant. There, the group connected with other members who had registered.
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Following lunch, the group, along with the four enthusiasts attendees invited to this meetup while in the line for Stunt Pilot, gathered at the well-known Roller Coaster Alley sign, where they met with three coaster designers from RMC: Marc Gigliuto, William Friedlander and Dan Fritsche. There, a group photo was taken, and the group moved to a shadier portion of the park, where both designers talked about their experiences working with RMC, challenges they face and hints to some exciting new developments. They also invited the region team to a tour of their facility in the future. What was comical was that every three minutes, the speakers had to hold for a moment as Timber Terror's train came racing by, its roar nearly deafening. It was a great addition to then follow up the talk by riding Stunt Pilot with the designers while having one-on-one discussions with the three of them in line.
Stunt Pilot’s amazing light package at night.
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Following a belated 50th birthday ride on the ACE Roller Coaster Landmark Corkscrew, most of the group went their separate ways to explore other areas of the park until most got back together at Chuckwagon for dinner to fuel up for night rides on Timber Terror and Tremors, where everyone remaining rode the coasters until the very last ride of the night. During dinner, it was announced that Traci Weller from the Pittsburgh area, who was visiting along with her husband, Todd, rode her 500th coaster: Tremors. ACE Northwest is very pleased with how well the event went and looks forward to hosting another in the future!
— Sean Randall, ACE Northwest Regional Representative
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