Rising Stars: Meet Bill & Michelle Johnson of Theme Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bill & Michelle Johnson.

Hi Bill & Michelle, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Santa’s Village opened on Memorial Day weekend in 1955, just six weeks before Disneyland.

The original idea came from a Saturday Evening Post article that was written about a project called “North Pole” in New York. Crestline resident Glenn Holland proposed the idea to investors and broke ground, with Putnam “Putty” Henck as the general contractor, in 1954. They worked closely with local artisans and craftsman to create the whimsical Village.

The park was built on 15 of the total 230 acres, which were leased to Santa’s Village by the Henck family. The park operated for approximately 23 years in this capacity.

Glenn Holland went on to build two more parks (one in Scott’s Valley, California and one in Dundee, Illinois) making Santa’s Village the first franchised theme park in the country.

A BRIEF COMEBACK

When the Santa’s Village franchise went bankrupt in the late 1970’s, the Henck family was able to purchase Santa’s Village because it was situated on their land.

Pamela and Putty Henck operated and expanded the park to include more rides, horseback riding, and nature trails which they called “Fantasy Forest at Santa’s Village.” They briefly made the business successful, but eventually had to close in 1998. The Henck family then decided to auction the rides and fixtures. Many of these items can be seen around our local communities.

RESTORATION

After the closing of Fantasy Forest at Santa’s Village, a new owner attempted to reopen park. He brought in a local contractor, John Radleigh and began restoration of many of the structures. We are grateful to the Plott family and the efforts of John Radleigh. Because of their efforts in restoring the roofs and windows of most of the buildings, they prevented further degradation of the historic structures and most likely saved the buildings from the fire that would ensue a few years later. Unfortunately, the new owner passed away before the project could be completed, and the property was then leased to a logging company.

In 2003, one of the worst wildfires in state history, dubbed the “Old Fire”, ravaged much of the property. If not for the extraordinary efforts of local fire agencies, the Village would have been destroyed. The fire was exacerbated by a bark beetle infestation (caused by the storage of infested logs) that weakened the already drought-stricken trees. The abuse of the land is still evident in many areas.

BRINGING IT ALL BACK

For many years, this property of over 230 acres sat abandoned and ravaged by squatters and mismanaged ownership. Bill and Michelle Johnson grew up in Lake Arrowhead and went to high school here. They have been business owners in the local community for over 30 years. The Santa’s Village property has always been cherished by them because the forest here is similar to a dense, alpine forest of Northern California or even Canada. The couple spent many years mountain biking and snowshoeing on the property as trespassers. Being in the local real estate business meant that they did see the property come on the market and for many months it sat with no real interest until one day when Bill had an idea. He came home and presented it to his wife Michelle. The idea sparked something in them.

Reimagining a theme park is not for the faint hearted and was never their original intention. Being avid mountain bikers and hikers, they imagined a place much more like Whistler’s Mountain Bike Park but on a much smaller scale. The village infrastructure was essentially there with 18 building in disrepair and no utilities. This was not a deterrent to the Johnson’s. Both of them have experience in design and construction with Bill being in land development and Michelle being a designer and Project Manager. The idea of it seemed simple to them, be it that that was very naive of them. Being dreamers and creatives helped inspire their imaginations for what the property could become.

Santa’s Village had operated for over 43 years in a theme park capacity. During the early stages of planning the Johnson’s discovered that the property was not zoned for a theme park anymore. With this came many more challenges than expected and more money to invest. They took on a business partner to help with the remodel and permitting. The project was subject to an Environmental Impact Study which stalled the opening for more than 2 years. It seems opening a Bike Park is a lot harder in California than anyone knew.

The project was also subject to community scrutiny during this process. Many in the community wanted Santa’s Village to come back the way it was and many did not want this attraction in their town. The history of Santa’s Village is such a huge part of Southern California’s Christmas Traditions. Both Bill and Michelle took that to heart while reimagining the park. The Johnson’s considered how the community felt and decided that they could achieve both the nostalgia of Santa’s Village but with an adventurous twist. Thus SkyPark at Santa’s Village was born. An adventure park like no other where you can zipline through the trees, ride mountain bikes in a world class bike park, or even visit Santa and his forest friends. The Johnson’s wanted to create a place where all ages could be together and create memories of wonder and camaraderie. Every attraction at SkyPark is an adventure and is human powered. There are no traditional rides like other theme parks. The concept was to get families outside experiencing adventures in an alpine forest.

The project was approved in phases. The first phase being the village area itself, 15 acres out of the 230 acres. SkyPark opened its Santa’s Village Christmas in December of 2016 when the concrete was still wet and there were only a few attractions up and running. It was well received but the biggest challenge was getting the Bike Park opened. This was finally approved by the Board of Supervisors after the EIR and its conditions were accepted. The Bike Park opened in 2017. The popularity grew organically with most of our patrons coming from the San Diego area. When the Bike Park opened it was a huge relief for the Johnson’s as this was their original dream. They were starting to see that this concept could work.

The third and final phase was opening the SkyPark Camp + RV Park. In order to get this portion approved the Johnson’s were required to build an intersection on Highway 18 with a traffic light. A very large price tag came with this approval. But Bill and Michelle continued to push through the approvals and challenges. The RV park was approved in 2019 right before COVID.

Every year the Johnson’s have stepped up and met these challenges. The park has given them so many challenges but also so many blessings. Being able to provide a place for families to enjoy each other and create lasting memories has always been paramount in the vision of SkyPark.

IN OUR OWN WORDS

While we never set out to become theme park owners and operators, we believe that we have restored an evergreen legacy in Southern California. We did this with appreciation for history, a love of the outdoors and the dedication to families. We are just two kids who grew up in the mountain who loved this amazing property and wanted to do something worthwhile. We had a dream for this place and were fortunate enough to get to do this. We would never have been able to accomplish all of this without our amazing team of friends, family, local artisans, and those who work here and support us every day.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There have been many challenges along the way. The biggest challenge was the rezoning of the property and all of the county approvals. The original theme park was not grandfathered in under the zoning so we had to start from scratch and were required to do an Environmental Impact Study which cost millions of dollars and took many years. To this day that has been one of the most challenging and stressful aspects of reopening an existing park that was established in 1955. We have faced many other challenges with COVID and extreme weather and fire closures.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
BILL JOHNSON

Bill was raised in Newport Beach where his father was a landscape architect. Many of his installations are still there. HIs parents were very involved in real estate and remodeling in the area. Bill moved to the mountains in high school after many years of having a second home in Lake Arrowhead. Bill graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Finance and Urban Planning. After graduating he went on to work for his father’s land development company where he applied his skills to master planned communities in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Bill moved back to Lake Arrowhead with Michelle in 1995 where they started their own real estate brokerage. Bill has honed his skills in investing, construction , and planning with many projects in the area. He is both creative and analytical.

MICHELLE JOHNSON

I was raised in Southern California by two very creative parents. Both of my parents started their careers in the theme park business working at Disney and Magic Mountain. My mother supported my father’s career as a machinist and fabricator. My father was recruited to Disney to help develop their animatronics because he was a machinist. He worked there for a few years until he eventually went to work for Sid and Marty Kroft. His eventually went on to open his own Prop Company which provided hand props for commercials, movies, and other entertainments. I was raised in a very creative environment with my brother.
Both of of have been commercial artists in some form or another our entire lives. While my brother gravitated towards the prop making business, I gravitated towards construction & interior design. After many years of remodeling and selling homes, I started my own design company in 2010 called Johnson Customs. My company specialized in remodeling and project management in Lake Arrowhead. I soon went on to design commercial & retail projects. This laid the foundation for my work at SkyPark. I am most proud of the variety of skill sets I can bring to the park. I am very sensitive about the historic nature of this property and how to enhance that in my designs.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I mentor a lot of younger folks and my number one advice to them is “Try everything and stay curious! If you try everything you find what you do and do not like plus you may acquire skills that you will carry into other aspects of your life. Nothing you experience in trying new jobs will be wasted. I have had so many different jobs over the years and have brought those skills to what I am doing now.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://skyparksantasvillage.com/
• Instagram: skyparksantasvillage
• Facebook: skypark at santa’s village