1997 Yearbook – Lagoon History Project

Opening Day: 19 April
Closing Day: 31 October
Adult All-Day Ride Pass: $25.95
Parking: $5

On the first day of the pre-season in mid-April, Lagoon opened its largest and most expensive ride to date – Rattlesnake Rapids. The ride was part of a large expansion of Pioneer Village which also included a plaza with the Peddler’s Place souvenir stand, Rising Waters game and later, Rattlesnake Grub. Other additions to the park in 1997 were the Uintah and Wasatch picnic terraces, which took the names of two former terraces built in the 1960s. The video below shows what the park looked and sounded like during a slow day in May. Particularly noticeable are the barren surroundings of Rattlesnake Rapids before landscaping was completed.

After the park closed for the season, a scene for a TV movie called In My Sister’s Shadow was filmed on the North Midway. Pioneer Village was opened for a few days in November to host Farmington’s annual Pioneer Christmas celebration. The following month, Lagoon announced the new ride for 1998 – a new Wild Mouse coaster to replace the wooden version which had been gone for almost a decade.