BIG SURF TO REOPEN NEXT SUMMER!

Hold off all those sunset and crashing-wave metaphors. The owners of Big Surf said Friday they will open the water park next summer.

The original owners are back," said Jerry Rosenbaum, whose family has owned the one-of-a-kind attraction since 1971.

Word came this week that the water park - and its mechanical waves - was in danger of shutting down because the company that has operated it had not renewed its lease.

But Rosenbaum said Inland Oceans, the El Paso company that owns the property, will take over operations and keep alive Arizona's artificial ocean.

"We're in the process now of recruiting, and we've had people who've worked for us before at that park who want to come back," Rosenbaum said. "Big Surf gets under your skin so I imagine more people will want to come back."

Big Surf will end its 2009 summer season on Labor Day. It will mark the final day of operations under the Golfland banner.

Big Surf, located in Tempe AZ, was one of the first man made wave pools where you could actually surf.  The "flush" was a love hate relationship for a couple dozen guys from a couple generations of locals. 

Some of the guys learned to surf here and some were transplanted surfers, stranded here by some twist of fate.  But it was all we had so we surfed.

Gank - President, BSVA