Shell Shocked
Shell Factory counts its blessings
For a person who saw her business resemble a war zone the previous week, Pam Cronin felt very blessed.
The Shell Factory & Nature Park, which Cronin owns, was hit hard by Hurricane Ian and, as of Oct. 6, still had no electricity nor were any of its attractions even close to being open.
The famed Shell Factory sign read “SHE” and made national news as the rest of the letters are long gone, the gift shop saw some flooding and roof damage, the restaurant had approximately $30,000 in food go bad when the power went out early and the refrigerators and freezers couldn’t hold in the cold, and the nature park … well … it was totally trashed.
The good news was that all the animals made it through the storm and Players Circle Theater and the Fun Park sustained no damage and the Shell Factory is looking to get back in business sooner rather than later.
Cronin said they have been working hard to get things back to normal, which begins with the iconic sign.
“The sign has been there since 1960 but it’s been destroyed. We have the “SHE” left, which is funny. We got a lot of damage like everyone else and have a lot of water inside the building so we’re pulling all the carpet out and mitigate the problems we have with the water,” Cronin said.
Company staff has been working on that and other things since the day after the storm when they came in and started the process of cleaning up. Much of the mess from Ian was cleaned up a week later.
Scalliwags Fun Park was in decent shape, while the carousel was mostly taken down except for two horses they were not able to remove. Both survived the storm.
“We just rebuilt that bumper boat dock and it withstood the storm like champ. We moved the boats inside and everything looks wonderful,” Cronin said.
As for the Players Circle Theater and the Southern Grill, there was a little water damage inside and at Tommy’s, but structurally, everything else was fine.
Robert Cacioppo, Players Circle artistic director and co-founder, went by there after the storm and was amazed by what he saw.
“I came here expecting a disaster and when I went inside, there was no damage, thank God,” Cacioppo said. “We can continue on with preparing for the new season coming up.”
Overall, Cronin said the Shell Factory got pretty lucky, all things considered. The Nature Park, not so much. It was almost totally trashed, with trees downed and all sorts of debris littering the area.
“The good news is that all the staff, their families and the animals are safe. There were no animal deaths and we are really happy about that,” Cronin said. “Inside the nature park, it’s devastated.”
Cronin said it would take about a year to bring the nature park back to what it was. They may have to rehome some of the animals to keep them safe and create new habitats. All the aviaries were destroyed except one.
The fixes will require money, and Cronin plans to do some fundraising to make that happen.
“We’re going to have big fundraisers for the Nature Park Foundation to try to create new habitats and keep that going,” Cronin said. “I don’t see us opening it anytime soon. It’s just too devastated.”
They did plan to keep Nam Jam, the first big event of the new season, on Sunday, Oct. 16. The new season at the Players Circle begins Oct. 25.
“Overall, we were very fortunate. Our staff, family and animals are safe. Some are worse for wear. Some lost their home, cars, but they are stepping up and are here,” Cronin said.
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