Dogpatch auction canceled; abandoned theme park to be sold to unnamed buyer

After Dogpatch's closing, salvageable rides were sold to various parks. Those that remained, like the Wild Water Rampage, cast a stark silhouette against the rugged landscape.
After Dogpatch's closing, salvageable rides were sold to various parks. Those that remained, like the Wild Water Rampage, cast a stark silhouette against the rugged landscape.

Dogpatch won’t be sold on the Newton County Courthouse steps on March 3, as previously advertised.

The abandoned theme park is under contract to be sold to a “solid buyer,” said Stewart Nance of Eureka Springs, one of the mortgage holders.

Nance said he couldn’t reveal the buyer’s name on Tuesday.

He said the foreclosure auction has been postponed for two months pending contract negotiations with the buyer.

A "Motion to Cancel Foreclosure Sale" was filed in Newton County Circuit Court on Tuesday.

[DOCUMENT: Motion to cancel foreclosure sale » arkansasonline.com/226dogpatch/]

Stewart Nance, his son John Pruett Nance of Rogers and their attorney Gregory Brent Baber of Little Rock hold the mortgage on the 400-acre property.

A legal notice about the foreclosure auction was published in the Newton County Times on Feb. 12.

The mortgage holders filed suit in September against Great American Spillproof Products after it fell behind on lease payments and missed a balloon payment for the total amount due in August.

Great American Spillproof Products bought the Dogpatch property for $2 million in 2014. Besides a $1 million promissory note, the company had paid $1 million.

Constructed in 1967 for $1.33 million, Dogpatch originally featured a trout farm, buggy and horseback rides, an apiary, Ozark arts and crafts, gift shops and entertainment by characters from Al Capp’s “Li’l Abner” comic strip, according to the Central Arkansas Library System’s Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Amusement rides were added later.

Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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