Will Playland's Upcoming 2025 Season Survive The Pending Divorce?

RYE, NY — When divorces happen, it's usually the kids who suffer. The dissolution of a marriage between Standard Amusements and Westchester County could mean a sad summer for Hudson Valley families who were counting on fun in the sun at Playland and Playland Beach.

And neither side seems willing to put their differences aside for the sake of those families.

While county officials have pledged to ensure the iconic seaside amusement park will open for the 2025 season, Standard Amusements, the operator of Playland, is striking a much more pessimistic tone, warning what it calls the county's bad faith actions will harm residents, visitors, employees, and taxpayers, along with jeopardizing the 2025 opening of the iconic Rye Playland.

The company says the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of county officials.

"For over a decade, we have tirelessly worked to revitalize Playland and restore it as a special place for residents and visitors for generations to come," Standard Amusements said in a statement. "We are proud of the progress we made towards achieving our vision, including improving rides and attractions, engaging local artists to enhance the park with their creativity, establishing new traditions through robust community programming, launching a seasonal ferry service, and much more to create dynamic opportunities and memorable experiences for our community."

Standard Amusements officials, however, say that in that time, Westchester County, which owns the amusement park, failed to live up to its end of the bargain.

"Fully realizing our vision required the county to meet the construction obligations necessary to complete improvements to the park," the company said. "Despite spending over $150 million of taxpayer money — already surpassing their $125 million budget intended to cover completion of the entire project — the county has proven incapable and is nowhere near done. Accordingly, our contract, negotiated over the course of nearly a year with the assistance of a federal judge, was carefully structured with contractual deadlines for construction to ensure our extensive renovation plan stayed on track. And, in the event the county failed to meet those deadlines, the contract contained a detailed formula outlining precisely what the county would owe Standard Amusements in these exact circumstances."

Standard said the company was left with no choice but to dissolve its tumultuous relationship with Westchester County.

"Regarding our contract, the wording is clear. Legislator [Catherine] Parker may say this is a 'marriage made in hell' — but the fact is we have a prenup," Standard said, announcing the breakup. "As for the future of Playland, the outlook is uncertain and deeply concerning. We want the park to have a successful season in 2025 and beyond. To that end, since November, we have made every effort to work with the County to unwind our relationship in an orderly and responsible way. These offers have thus far been ignored. It is not apparent to us how the County, after squandering the months we have afforded them, will be ready to open Playland for the start of the season."

The county, however, has pledged to ensure the park opens as planned this summer.

On Monday, Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins announced that the county intends to open Playland for the 2025 season, despite ongoing legal battle with Standard Amusements.

"We have long said that Playland is the crown jewel of this county," Jenkins said. "Since 2018, the county has made every effort to ensure this beloved park thrives for future generations and today that commitment continues."

The county has accepted the long-running, and controversial, pact between Westchester and Standard Amusements will come to an end, but disputes the company's justification for exiting the deal.

The county is settling in for the early stages of what is expected to be a long and complicated legal battle.

Jenkins said that it is untrue that the county had prior knowledge of the termination in November. He said that county officials had a conversation with Standard Amusements where they expressed an interest in potentially negotiating a settlement, but nothing came from that conversation.

"The bottom line is this: Standard Amusements was losing money," the county executive said. "They couldn’t make Playland work, and now they are trying to place the blame on the County for their failure — after the County has spent close to $150 million pursuant to the [Preventive Maintenance Agreement]."

The agreement between the county and Standard Amusements was originally established during the Astorino administration, under a public-private partnership model. This arrangement required the county to reimburse Standard for their investments into Playland and expenses.

"While the original contract was flawed, we managed to renegotiate it to implement a cap on reimbursements, protecting taxpayers from an even greater financial burden," Jenkins said. "Despite our efforts, we were ultimately blocked from fully walking away from the deal due to a bankruptcy court ruling that sided with Standard Amusements."