Eleven Alabama towns borrowed $60M for a theme park — sold it for $5.25M

Visionland was the project of Fairfield mayor Larry Langford: eleven Alabama cities — Birmingham, Bessemer, Fairfield and eight smaller towns — formed the West Jefferson Amusement and Public Park Authority to build a theme park near Bessemer. Seed commitments ranged from $1.2 million (Birmingham) to $1,770 (North Johns), and the Alabama legislature approved a $60 million bond offering to finance construction, which began in March 1997. Visionland opened on 23 May 1998.

The park's gate never serviced its debt. In 2002 the public authority filed Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy — the unusual route for an amusement park, taken because the borrower was a public body; during the case only the Steel Waters water park section kept operating. Attendance in the park's troubled run hovered far below plan — by 2005, after the sale, the park drew about 345,000 visitors.

At auction, a higher bid was withdrawn and Southland Entertainment Group bought the park for $5.25 million — a loss of roughly $26 million in public money on the $60 million borrowed. The site reopened under private ownership and was eventually reworked into a water park, while the eleven towns were left with the bond bill.