Tommy Bartlett stage show to reopen, but not ski show
Despite the catastrophic draining of Lake Delton, which will likely preclude any water skiing there this summer, the Tommy Bartlett Show is planning to reopen the onshore stage and sky portions of the show on Thursday.
But the ski show portion of the Tommy Bartlett Show has been canceled indefinitely because all of Lake Delton was drained in a short two-hour period on Monday morning.
That means at least 22 water skiing employees at Tommy Bartlett will be out of work this summer. There are about 150 total employees at one of Wisconsin Dells' most famous attractions.
Workers on Tuesday were busy reinstalling a new sound system that was flooded and continuing to clean up in preparation for a stage-only show.
"The show site itself is fine," said spokeswoman Andrea Novotny. "Other than minor flooding that preceded the big draining event, the show's amphitheater was not damaged."
Novotny said show owner Tom Diehl would be meeting with workers later this week to discuss the summer plans. She said if layoffs are needed at the Tommy Bartlett complex because of the damage, Diehl would try to place any displaced workers in other positions in the Dells.
Tommy Bartlett was also forced to cancel its 55th anniversary show scheduled for next weekend. No makeup date has been set.
Otherwise, many events are continuing as scheduled. The WWII amphibious Original Wisconsin Ducks were hoping to begin tours again on Tuesday. The land-and-water tours were shut down on Monday due to high waters on the Wisconsin River and the draining of Lake Delton.
Elsewhere on Monday, crews were busy clearing the Duck trails of trees that had been felled by storms earlier during the weekend or that had been washed out by water runoff. The hope was to reopen Original Wisconsin Duck tours with a modified route on Tuesday.
Other tours -- the Lower Dells Boat Tour and Jet Boat Adventures, which both operate on the lower Wisconsin River -- were suspended Monday, but both of the tours were open Tuesday.
Upper Dells Boat Tours and Jet Boat Adventure Tours on the Upper Dells (above the main dam on the Wisconsin River, which is upstream from Lake Delton) operated with full tours on Monday and were not affected by the draining event. Upper Dells tours continued as usual on Tuesday.
Andy Manis/Associated Press
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Stage manager Phill Erickson washes off tools Monday in Lake Delton at the Tommy Bartlett Show. The lake behind Erickson emptied Monday after flood waters broke through a roadway, causing the lake to drain.
