Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park, often shortened to Gilroy Gardens, is a

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

-themed amusement park located in

Gilroy, California Gilroy is a city in Northern California's Santa Clara County, south of Morgan Hill and north of San Benito County. Gilroy is the southernmost city in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a population of 56,766 as of the 2019 U.S. Census Projection ...

, United States. Designed and built by Michael Bonfante, the park originally opened as Bonfante Gardens in 2001. The is owned by the city of Gilroy and operated by Gilroy Gardens, Inc. a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization; it features over 40 rides and attractions and is known for its Circus Trees, created by

Axel Erlandson Axel Erlandson (December 15, 1884 – April 28, 1964) was a Swedish American farmer who shaped trees as a hobby, and opened a horticultural attraction in 1947 called "The Tree Circus", advertised with the slogan "See the World's Strangest Tr ...

History

The park was founded by Michael and Claudia Bonfante after selling their

Nob Hill Foods Raley’s Supermarkets is an independent, family-owned American grocery and retail technology company headquartered in West Sacramento, California. Raley's was founded in 1935 by Thomas P. Raley in Placerville, California. The Raley’s Companies ...

supermarket chain to build the park. The park was constructed gradually over a period of 25 years. Before it became an amusement park open to the public, it was known as Tree Haven, and was a commercial

plant nursery A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to a desired size. Mostly the plants concerned are for gardening, forestry or conservation biology, rather than agriculture. They include retail nurseries, which sell to the general p ...

, as well as a recreational facility for employees of Nob Hill Foods. The park opened to the public in June 2001 as Bonfante Gardens. The name was changed to Gilroy Gardens in February 2007. The park features 19 rides, 27 attractions and six gardens. The most well known garden features 24 Circus Trees that were grown and shaped with multiple trunks, basket-weave patterns, and hearts by the late

. Starting in 2004, the park began its annual holiday celebration, Gilroy Gardens Holiday Lights. The park struggled with financial difficulty and low attendance during the first two years of operation. It closed early for its first two seasons and the park's management debated whether to open the park at all for the third season.

Paramount Parks Paramount Parks was the operator of Paramount's Kings Island, Paramount's Kings Dominion, Paramount's Great America, Paramount's Carowinds, and Paramount Canada's Wonderland, which annually attracted about 13 million patrons. National Amusemen ...

began to manage the park on contract starting with the 2003 season.

Cedar Fair Cedar Fair, L.P., formally Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, is a publicly traded master limited partnership headquartered at its Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. The company owns and operates eleven amusement parks, nine included- ...

acquired Paramount Parks from

CBS Corporation The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, an ...

in June 2006 and continued the management contract to operate Gilroy Gardens. On December 31, 2021, the contract to manage the park expired after both parties decided not to renew the contract. Gilroy Gardens Inc., the nonprofit that owns the park, began operating the park on its own for the 2022 season. The city of Gilroy purchased the park on March 5, 2008. Mid-March 2020 saw the park get shut down on grounds of

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. It reopened mid-to-late May 2021, restricted to California residents and adhering to strict measures like

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dis ...

and wearing masks.

Attractions

Roller Coasters

Family Rides

Thrill Rides

Other Attractions: *Bonfante Falls ''(formerly Pinnacles Waterfall)''Bridge behind an artificial waterfall. *Bonfante's Splash GardenWater play area. * Oak Park PlaygroundChildren's play area. * Water OasisWater play area aimed at smaller children (introduced in 2014 replacing Pinnacles Rock Maze.) Former Attractions: * Pinnacles Rock MazeArtificial maze resembling caves found at Pinnacles National Park.

References

External links

* * {{authority control 2001 establishments in California Amusement parks in California Buildings and structures in Santa Clara County, California Cedar Fair amusement parks Gilroy, California Parks in Santa Clara County, California San Francisco Bay Area amusement parks Tourist attractions in Santa Clara County, California Amusement parks opened in 2001