CAVE CITY, Ky. (WHAS11) -- The historic Cave City attraction Guntown Mountain is getting a makeover.
A Louisville man has taken it upon himself to revamp the roadside attraction, renaming it Funtown Mountain. He revealed his plans for the park Wednesday morning, April 1, including the opening date which is set for June 19.
Will Russell owns the WHY Louisville stores and now he is taking his passion for the area to Cave City. He is reopening Guntown Mountain as Funtown Mountain where he says he hopes families from near and far will come and experience the old spirit of south Central Kentucky plus a twist of his own love for carnivals and pop culture.
If you drive by Guntown Mountain in Cave City, you may notice that time has taken its toll, decades and decades of time.
"It's still reasonably attractive to the passerby, but it does need some major upgrading," Mayor of Cave City Dwayne Hatcher said.
And major upgrading is exactly what the roadside attraction is getting, starting with a name change from Guntown to Funtown Mountain, plus an extreme makeover.
"You'll notice the chairlift goes up to the top of the mountain, the haunted hotel will have animated eyes, the Lucky Lady Saloon," Will Russell, the man behind the idea for Funtown Mountain, said.
Russell laid out his plans for the attraction in front of a small Louisville crowd. Funtown Mountain will be home to a haunted house, mini golf, a zipline, carnival rides, laser tag, and a pop culture museum and much more.
"We think that old is the new fun, we think that Cave City is going to become a playground basically, an amusement park in and of itself, for families to have an affordable vacation and for people to just get together and have fun and dream and play music and create art and thrive," Russell said.
Russell is a Louisville native and says he grew up visiting Cave City and now he is helping to revitalize it, something the mayor of Cave City says will have a huge economic impact on his community that thrives on tourism.
"We have other attractions and they are really excited that this is being revived for the entire region and even in Bowling Green, the Corvette plant and so many attractions so in south Central Kentucky this is really going to be a boost," Mayor Hatcher said.
Funtown Mountain is expected to employ over 100 people. Admission to the park is free and then Russell said people will pay as they play for certain attractions.
It is a multimillion dollar project and is being paid for by fundraisers including an auction of Russell's collection of pop culture memorabilia and a Kickstarter campaign, private donors and some state funding.
The park opens on June 19 but not all of the attractions will be complete. Russell says he will have another debut in the fall when everything is finished.
