Coca-Cola are sponsoring Snow Mountain, described as a “major new attraction” at Stone Mountain theme park in Georgia, the state’s most popular with four million visitors each year. The “family snow park” will open in November as part of Stone Mountain Christmas.
Coca-Cola Snow Mountain will feature three football fields of deep snow including a 125m (400 foot) tubing hill and a 13,000 square foot play area.
Gerald Rakestraw, Vice President and General Manager of Stone Mountain Park, made the announcement.
“Stone Mountain Park has a tradition of bringing families together in the great outdoors. Research indicated nearly 70% of Atlanta area kids had never experienced real snow, and only 40% of Atlanta families have experienced snow as a family unit. Coca-Cola Snow Mountain seemed like a great opportunity to address that gap and give Atlanta families a first-of-its-kind snow attraction close to home,” said Rakestraw.
The family snow park will include 10 tubing runs, places to make the ultimate snowmen and snow angels, a snowball making zone and an area for younger kids. The snow park will have various sites from which to view the activities including a snow lodge with an observation deck, a group of warming chalets and a bonfire for roasting marshmallows and making s’mores.
“Using state of the art equipment, Coca-Cola Snow Mountain will feature more than 200 tons of fresh snow daily. To our knowledge, this is the first time in the U.S. an outdoor snow park of this scope has been created in this type of climate,” said Anthony Esparza, Vice President of Guest Experiences, Herschend Family Entertainment.
A spokeswoman for Stone Mountain refused to divulge which company was responsible for making the snow, in what is likely to be positive temperatures, describing this as confidential information.
The snow park is scheduled to open at weekends from November 10th through to January 27th, 2008 and everyday during Christmas holidays. Coca-Cola has already agreed to be the attraction’s title sponsor.
Brad Taylor, Global Director, Entertainment & Customer Alliances, Coca-Cola North America. “Building upon our longstanding support of Stone Mountain Christmas, Coca-Cola is helping to foster family traditions by bringing Snow Mountain to Atlantans.”
The last snow sport venue in Georgia was Sky Valley, in Rabun County. However owner Merrill Trust and Associates, which purchased the community in December 2004 have concentrated on making it a golf rather than ski resort.
