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Show lagoon welcomes sea lions By TOM HARALDSEN 1 - ----- -J V pAXMINGTON What do a J)-pound 10-year-old and a 135-' 135-' pound 22-year-old have in common, com-mon, and what are they doing in Farmington, Utah? The answer to that will become clear this summer, when Lagoon Amusement Park teams up with sea lions and divers for the fun-filled fun-filled escapade called Seals and Squeals. The sea lions involved are 700-pound 700-pound Oliver and his son Slick, who is 18 months old and already a seasoned performer. They've come to Lagoon under the auspices of trainer Doug Messinger, a native of Salt Lake City (East High class of 1979) who trains sea lions for Entertainment Plus, a company out of Galveston, Tex. Doug arrived ar-rived at Lagoon, along with his two slippery friends, three weeks ago. They performed their first shows to the public last weekend. High-divers make up the other component of this show, five divers di-vers who are under the guidance of Mike Ostovich of Los Angeles. He has coordinated the program at Magic Mountain, and his cast at Lagoon includes divers from all around the country. Tim Bonniwell was the first diver di-ver to arrive, driving in from Chi-co, Chi-co, Calif, last week. His initial reaction to the specially-designed diving pool Lagoon constructed for the show was "that's a small pool." But he was impressed with the diving boards and the setup of the stage, as designed by Lagoon's Ron Van Woerden, entertainment director for the park. The programs will run daily through Sept. 2, on the following schedule: 2:30 p.m. Flippers and Flyers; 4 p.m., sea lion show; 5:30 p.m., high diving show; 7 p.m., Flippers and Flyers; 8:30 p.m. Flippers and Flyers. There will also be a special sea lion show for children on Saturdays Satur-days at 1 p.m. The high-diving show will climax with a spectacular 10-story dive into 10 feet of water, O CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ..,. " " - -.-V"- U - - - y s . ' - ' . v;i v s -. .$ 1 . .. - s , i . V:'- Y k . .J .. k , - - Sea lion "Oliver" gives his trainer and best friend, Doug Messinger, a kiss as the two work together on "Seals and Squeals," the newest entertainment at Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington. , Laeoon welcomes Sea Lions CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 and at night, the Captain Inferno dive will feature a diver on fire, launching into the air against a darkened dar-kened sky. Oliver and Slick are finally getting get-ting acclimated to Utah, and La- This marks the first time that Utah has ever had this type of entertainment, en-tertainment, as far as anyone can recall. Lagoon personnel are excited ex-cited about the show, and if it proves successful, future seasons may see an even more expansive array of water entertainment. goon, according to Doug. Oliver survives on about 30 pounds of fish a day, while Slick eats an average of 1 1 pounds per day. Their portion of the program includes in-cludes a few animal antics, and behavioral be-havioral techniques, and Doug said they "love to perform for children." |
