May 28, 2024

Slick City Action Park, a rapidly expanding family entertainment center featuring “waterless slides,” is coming to Sioux Falls.

The Colorado-based company was founded in 2021 and recently awarded the franchise rights to Sioux Falls.

A group led by former Sky Zone Trampoline Park franchisee Dan Bryant will open a location in the market, as well as in Fargo and Omaha.

Bryant, who owned the Sky Zone franchise in Fargo for eight years, said he “had no desire to open up another family entertainment center” until he discovered Slick City, which was founded by Bron Launsby, another former Sky Zone franchisee.

“It was very intriguing,” Bryant said. “They’ve seen such great success on the corporate side that they are opening a lot of parks corporately, far exceeding the franchisees. They’ve worked so hard on these slides and the concept, and there’s so much technology beyond them that you have something that’s thrilling, high, fast and fun that doesn’t have anything a typical slide has.”

Four corporate locations are open, including Denver where it launched. Slick City has awarded 15 franchise locations since opening up the business model earlier this year.

Branding itself as a “first-of-its-kind” experience with the “world’s only waterless slide park,” Slick City offers a variety of slides within its park that Bryant compares to a water slide without the water.

“It doesn’t have the static,” he said. “If you can just do that same thing in a dry environment, I think you’ve really got something, and they’ve proven that’s the case.”

The slides vary from traditional to twisting, including slides that launch riders onto a crash mat.

The park also includes air courts, a “Junior Jungle” climbing and play structure and space for events.

Slick City is improving its slides and unveiling new ones constantly, the company said. Thirty-four patents have been filed or granted on the slides so far.

For Bryant, the concept represents something beyond trampolines, which he said people increasingly have in their backyards and which serve a more narrow demographic “because it takes a certain level of physicality and skill and flexibility,” he said.

“Here, the demographic is grandparents to parents, and everyone goes down slides. Maybe not a super-high one with a launch, but they’ll go down a slide with their kids, so there’s a much wider demographic. It’s all thrill, no skill.”

His group is looking for a location in Sioux Falls of at least 26,000 square feet, though it could go larger depending on facility and leasing options, he said. They’re also open to building but will look for existing space first, he said.

“We’re just starting to look,” he said, adding he and his partner real estate investors know the Sioux Falls area from other deals.

“We’re all very familiar with Sioux Falls, and we’ve been there many, many times. It’s kind of a sister city to Fargo for a lot of us up here.”