Story Land reopens under new ownership this weekend [05/26/2007]

By David Carkhuff

The first Memorial Day weekend without Heritage-New Hampshire also is the first when neighboring Story Land theme park opens under its new ownership."It's as big a change as we get here. The new ownership should be able to finish the transaction by the end of June," Story Land's marketing coordinator Jim Miller said Thursday. "At the same time, they've made it clear that they really like Story Land the way it is and how it operates and the crew that's in place. Certainly, our guests shouldn't see any changes."Morrell Family Attractions, the company that owns Story Land, is being purchased by a Pennsylvania company. The purchasing company, KennywoodEntertainment, owns four parks in the southwest corner of Pennsylvania. Its purchase of Morrell Family Attractions will include all the Morrell properties, including Story Land, the now-defunct Heritage-NH and Linderhof Motel. All three are on Route 16 in Glen.Story Land opens for its 54th season this Memorial Day weekend, May 26-28, operating from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (From June 18 through Labor Day, Sept. 3, the park is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) For more information, call 383-4293 or visit www.storylandnh.com."It looks like beautiful weather for Memorial Day weekend. We're receiving plenty of calls," Miller said.Last year, Heritage-NH, on its 30th anniversary last year, closed its doors. The walk-through attraction that took visitors on a journey through New Hampshire history ended operations due to waning public interest. "We had a great final season with it last year so we were very happy with how it went. But it will definitely be different not having the other attraction next door," Miller said.The Morrell family started negotiating its sale to Kennywood last summer, according to Miller. Stoney Morrell, the longtime president of Morrell Family Attractions, initiated the negotiations before his death in October 2006.