Six Gun Territory, Silver Springs, Fla
N 29° 12.565 W 082° 04.131
17R E 396101 N 3231660
A kitschy amusement park I went to as a kid and later took my daughters too. This park got caught up in the bigger is better model and now has been turned into a strip mall.
Waymark Code: WM4QWB
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 09/21/2008
Views: 72
Welcome to Six Gun Territory, a complete 1880's western town, carved out of the Florida scrub. The Jail, Courthouse, Wells Fargo, and Bank provided backdrops to gunfights, as well as guest services and restrooms. At the time the map below was printed (early 1980's) most of the remainder of the town was given over to gift shops: Six Gun Apothecary, Ann's Hat Shop, Six Gun Photo, General Store, B & B Shirt Emporium, Cousin Will's Variety Store, etc. There were also many empty stores. Refreshments could be had at the Palace Saloon and Miss Kitty's Ice Cream Parlor, with fast food burgers and hot dogs at the El Sombrero Cafe.
The entertainment often started with a train robbery stopping the trip and ending in one of Six Gun's signature gun fights. Once the bad guys had been properly dispatched by the good guys the train would move on around the bend (handy for keeping visitor's eyes from seeing the bad guys get up and get ready for the next trainload).
The Palace was the main live performance venue in Six Gun Territory, home to the saloon show that has become the stock in trade of all western theme parks (including Disney's Frontierlands). Pretty saloon girls strutted their stuff in the can-can, while singers, comics, and variety acts rounded out the program with (always) corny jokes and old standard songs. (Note the authentic wild west air conditioning vent in the upper left corner of the back wall.)
Since Six Gun Territory didn't have many rides, the live entertainment pretty much made the park. Between the gunfights on the street, the indian shows, and the shows in the Palace, that was most of what there was to see here. You certainly didn't come here for the shopping or the food.
Unfortunately, live entertainment can be expensive to produce, and it doesn't scale back easily in the lean times. It costs the same to produce a show for fifty people as for five, but five admissions in a pay one price park just won't meet the bills. When attendance began to lag shows had to be cut back -- meaning there was less to attract more attendance, which led to another round of cutbacks. When the spiral hit bottom, the doors of the Palace swung shut forever.
An Original Video from the Park:
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visit link)