Richmond Times-Dispatch from Richmond, Virginia • 7

Richmond Time Pin petrh Srtt May 21 198ft A-7 1 a ens Atlantis ride Kings Dominion personnel have been at work since the park closed last fall to redesign die interior of the mountain and create the new ride Nothing that it normally takes 18 months to two years to build a ride of this size and complexity designer Richard Harsley said "This is the fastest rise of this size that has been put together" The creation of theme park rides' like the theme parks themselves is big business In March 1979 the management estimated that Taft Broadcasting Co and the Kroger Co co-owners of Kings Dominion would have $7 million invested in The Lost World when it was completed HARSLEY KINGS Dominion's first art director and presently an independent consultant on amusement park By Robin Tray wick Timn-Diupntch Stuff Writer The man led the way through the stygian darkness of the cave The woman followed him slowly feeling her way along the rough walls and sloshing through the puddles in her es padrillcs Water dripped from the Infinite darkness above them and the few words they exchanged were emplified by the hollow tunnel At one point the man lit his cigarette lighter to show the way and the woman saw trunks of sparkling treasure and dozens of skeletons in rags Neither the Jewels nor the ghoulish scene seemed real despite the swaying skeleion banging bove them Fearful of tripping or slipping on the wet path the woman was relieved at last to see light gleaming on the gray walls of the twisted tunnel As they en tered an open chamber with urns and statuary and an upright coffin with a mummy hanging out the woman was startled to hear a voire say you want me toturnoff the snake?" The chamber was the Nile River- section of Kings new ride The Haunted River which opens today with the commencement of the summer hours THE HAUNTED RIVER is a sophisticated combination of a haunted house and a flume ride Located in The Lost World a 17-story artificial mountain opened at the park last year The Haunted River contin 60 skeletons 15000 pounds of Spanish moss a 19th century chandelier from the Hotel Jefferson seven talking heads six chambers five mummy pop-ups four live actors three Skeletal Pirate Captain One of 60 in Park'i Ride crypts two animated snakes and a spider in a cement tree Retaining only the tunnel and the water pumps from the Sutt Pbotot by Tommy Priee Some Mummies Are Stationary But Some Keep Coming Art in the Windows tivihg -n TtMlay) ride design was retained to design the Haunted River Harsley named at least eight different departments work crews and special consultants who contributed to The Haunted River project A Broadway lightingdesigner was called in to arrange the black lights projectors and theatrical lighting Creative productons a department in the home office in Cincinnati played an important role in the ride's production as did a structural engineer from Cincinnati Sculptor Earl Wood a park employee made the molds for the statuary in the Egyptian section of the ride A WALK through the drained river as the finishing touches were being added yielded the impression that no detail of the sets was neglected The 60 medical skeletons (the commercial plastic variety) were aged in the art department by the Judicious application of paint The sharp teeth of the moray eels which gleam in the black lights of the Piranha River are flexible plastic' just In case some bold boat rider defies the rules and reaches out to touch the fish very safety con- sclous" said Harsley who explained his approach to designing the spook house you really taken look at it see done with a sense of humor not gory tried todowith the ride mainly is to leave most of it up to imagination We suggest what might be ahead with the hologram talking heads Needless to say all on tapis The rideri can conjure up more than we can think THE COMBINATION of animated and live characters adds another dimension to the fright potential In the Egyptian chamber where the cadaverous Cleopatra reclines with her animated asp a couple of mummies attack the passing boats 1 The climax of fright and ex citement plunges people over a precipice The abrupt drop over a waterfall whose rushing water is heard throughout the ride is the descent into a maelstrom that the riders have anxiously anticipated since they shfleed at the first giant hissing insect and it gives them the opportunity for one last satisfying scream quins have loaves of bread in their hands Myron Helfgott put his mannequin on stilts and Richard Carolyn has two electric fans aimed at the mannequin in his installment THE DEPARTMENT store window exhibits are part of the concept of alternative Ms Gunn said It has been done in other cities including New York and Philadelphia she said The idea is similar to a project last year by the School of the-Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University when 1 artists displayed their work on billboards 1 The Sixth Street Store Window Art Exhibit will be just one of several June Jubilee exhibits The others include the Central Richmond Association Sixth Annual Arts and Crafts Show in the Coliseum and outside at the Coliseum Plaza and Sixth Street the Artists Market and Artists in Action The works in the department store windows will be on sale and information about them can be obtained at the customerser- vice desk at Thalhimers and at the information desk at Miller A KCDCSit LlUG Rhoads Little People is an 'Interesting collaboration between the artists and the said Ms Gunn Mannequins are incorporated into the displays -They are either looking at the works are or positioned so that they are part of the installment of the artists created pieces just for the windows" Ms Gunn said They took the window and the size of it and let that determine what they were goingtodo" MS ZED SAID that the mannequin for her window came in a sitting position so she just sat it in the middle of her miniature figures: are looking af the said Ms Gunn not only see art in the windows but the windows have become a part of the art" Other pieces include an installment by Bret Lewis of material collected from-buildings demolished through the progress of Project I Richmond'smultimillion dollar downtown development pro- ject Working with Lewis on the window were John Graham and Karen Dale Daniel window is filled with balloons The manne- Surround Mannequin in Aggie Zed's the Coast Exhibit Miss Cuban-A merican Named tiS 285-0428 LARGEST SELECTION IN TOWN CALICO over 153 different prints 1 SOLIDS -100 cotton CHRISTMAS PRINTS and CUT-OUTS XNEW ARRIVALS DAILY QUILTING SUPPLIES COUNTRY STORE HOURS 10-5 DAILY CLOSED SUNDAY 4725 MIDLOTHIAN PKE SALE 20 Off on Selected Summer Merchandise For Girls Boys (Sizes infant thru pre-teen) Mon May Sat May24th Only 5814 Crave Ave By Cassandra Wynn Times-Dupatch Staff Writer A window may be worth a thousand words at least the windows in downtown Miller Rhoads and Thalhimers along Sixth Street Those windows are filled with exhibits by 31 professional Richmond artists as part of the June Jubilee celebration in downtown next weekend The artists began installing their works yesterday Many of the installments are and contemporary" said Nancy Gunn ex- ecutive coordinator at 1708East Main and one of the organizers of the exhibit Aggie window titled on the consists of miniature ceramic naked bodies surrounding a mannequin It caused a group of Elderly women to wonder what was going on part of June Jubilee" they were'told They still seemed perplexed DOONESBURY By Garry Trudeau UHY HELLO SI AKW3W4W UHAT5UP? L- HIKEmaaHMI9SJ0HS mm a earns on that poujerunb that uould cut Across your PROPERTY AND MNE ms AT 330 WIGHT I THANKS thought i- mmm SHOULD LET lAPpRE-i YOU MOUJ Ctm THE TV CALL uso Are you yeoanduxe 50 PROUD IT A NAKED GOFER TURNS OUT HES BEHWYOUR AUOKDCUm emif RAKED GOLFER TODAY ONLY ENTIRE STOCK 25 OFF BUlWTiS 3526WCohrSt ZZXhr- 1 I 'v -v Lissette Alvarez vrm REMODELING SALE! LAST WEEK! Great discounts on MEMORIAL DAY SALE 9 am to 6 pm UntiQueg Lissette Alvarez 14 was named Miss Cuban-Amerlcan of ichmond in a recent pageant sponsored by the Cuban-Amerlcan Club of Richmond She is a ninth-grader at Byrd Middle School and is the daughter of Orlando and Acelia Alvarez Barbara Vasquez 19 was first runner-up and Maria Cid 14 second runner-up among the seven teen-aged contestants The winner will represent the club in the International Festival the State Fair and the National Tobacco Festival among other local events Backyard Sale The anet Randolph Chapter United Daughters of the Confederacy will hold a backyard sale from 9 am to 3 pm next Saturday at 2301 Fleet Ave in Lakeside Nina Doll Gub The Nina Doll Gub will meet at 1 pm today at Overbrook Presbyterian Church 2605 Dumbarton Road Save WA CASH-N-CARRY RUG CLEANING OPEN TODAY 11H WIST MOORE ST 358-381 1 Of Course Sargeant Reynolds Community College will repeat Its' course on coping with widowhood from 7 to 9 pm on Tuesdays in June at the Sears conference room at Regency Square The teacher of the course is Shelley Foster a counselor at the college who was widowed last year at the age of 27 and who developed the course to provide others like herself with the information they need to deal with the legal financial and emotional problems created by the death of a spouse This is the third time the course has been offered It has resulted in the formation of a group of widows called 207 Main St 644-0781 Store houn 9-5 Cloned Sundr EC' ON ALL PORCH AND PATIO ALSO SAVE STOREWIDEfDURING OUR 15th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION! WE WILL BE CLOSED MONDAY MEMORIAL DAY 'JhginLcL Ncwb 10500 PATTERSON AVE PHONE 740-31 24 AVf'lH I.