Westchester County Executive George Latimer announced Tuesday afternoon that the amusement park portion of Playland in Rye will not open this season due to the COVID-19 outbreak, although there will be other activities at the county’s park in Rye.
“We lost Memorial Day Weekend as revenue, we announced originally that it would stay closed to mid-July hoping that things would get better and knowing that the governor”™s executive order still kept it closed but, you know, if things got better we”™d reach out and make a case for why it should open, but realistically we”™re at a point right now where we couldn”™t make that case any further,” Latimer said.
Latimer said that the county intends to keep the beach at Playland open to Westchester residents Tuesdays through Sundays, as well as the boardwalk. He said that the miniature golf course at Playland also will be open.
“On the north part of the parcel behind Playland and above is the Edith G. Read Sanctuary. It’s a nature preserve, it has access out to the Long Island Sound, and the Read sanctuary will remain open as well. It’s not a complete shutdown of the complex. It’s a shutdown of the amusement park,” Latimer said.
“We are planning to have now a couple of drive-in movies this year in the Playland parking lot, Friday night July 24 and Friday night August 7,” Latimer said. These events are in addition to the drive-in movies being planned by the county for the Kensico Dam Plaza.
Latimer said that the county intends to move up some capital projects that had been planned for the amusement park so the work can be done during summer weather. He also said reconstruction of the Playland pool will begin so that the pool will be ready for next year’s anticipated opening in late June.
“There always is a question about employment. There are a lot of young people that are employed at Playland, seasonal employees. Under other circumstances this would be a loss of opportunity for them to work because our two beaches and ultimately our four pools require more manpower now in order to manage them. We’re managing sessions at the pools not just all-day swimming and at the beaches as well we intend to hire quite a bit of the people that otherwise would be working at Playland,” Latimer said. “It won’t be an equal amount but the summer job opportunity will not dry up in its entirety.”
Latimer said that the county still is talking with Standard Amusements, the company that had been given a contract to manage Playland by the administration of Latimer’s predecessor, Rob Astorino, while Standard Amusements’ bankruptcy case remains in court.
“Our desire is to manage the park through 2021, whatever happens to the legal wrangling and we intend to open the park next year. We intend to open it on time,” Latimer said, quickly adding that it all depends on what happens with the COVID-19 virus.
Latimer said that most of the Playland park revenues, which he estimated would have ranged from $3 million to $5 million, have been lost.
“The beach generates a certain amount of revenue, the miniature golf generates a little bit of revenue, not much, parking, we’re charging for parking appropriately down there, then some of the special events will have a price tag too,” Latimer said. “But, we’re going to lose X number of million dollars in revenue with this decision and that adds to the significant loss of sales tax revenue for the county, somewhere between $100 to $130 million depending when we come back.”
