FARGO, N.D. -- A center for sweeping, swooping, swirling slides -- minus the splash factor -- will slip-slide into south Fargo next fall.
After local franchise partners for a Slick City Action Park searched for the right building throughout Fargo-Moorhead to house their slide park , they have decided the best building for their waterless slide park is one they build themselves.
The new Slick City building will be located directly south of KingPinz and west of the new Springhill Suites hotel, which are both located in the Timber Creek LIVE commercial development north of 52nd Avenue South and east of the I-29 on-ramp.
"It's becoming a bit of an entertainment center there," said franchise partner Dan Bryant.
The neighborhood is also home to the Suite Shots golf and entertainment venue , Plaza Azteca Mexican restaurant and multiple fast-food eateries.
Groundbreaking will take place this spring. If all goes as planned, Slick City could be open for families looking to burn off all that pumpkin pie and dressing by next Thanksgiving holiday, Bryant said.
The indoor family entertainment center will boast a footprint of about 30,000 square feet and feature 30-foot-high ceilings -- a necessary requirement to accommodate some of the park's tallest slides. The partners had considered locations such as the former Gordman's department store in Fargo, Bryant said, but these existing buildings didn't have the clearance needed for the park's loftier slides.
The all-ages venue will feature a series of elaborate slides, bearing names like the Big Wave, Mega Launch and Fast Lane, which are manufactured to produce "a nearly frictionless slide experience equivalent to a water slide, but without any water," according to Slick City press materials.
The park also will include inflatable air courts for basketball, dodgeball and other sports, a zipline, a Junior jungle play area with down-sized slides, tubes and play equipment, a giant crocheted "spider web" for climbing, and a cafe area.
This Slick City will be the only one in North Dakota, although Bryant and ownership group Ryan Goodman, Brady Goodman, Brady Nash and Derek Brandenburg also plan to open locations in Omaha, Neb., and Sioux Falls, S.D.
It's not Bryant's first foray into a family entertainment center. He used to own the Sky Zone trampoline park in Fargo but sold it several years ago.
Bryant said he didn't intend to get back into family entertainment until he learned about Slick City. One of the major advantages is Slick City's broader appeal across different age ranges and fitness types.
"This is more of an 'all thrill, no skill' thing," he said. "It's not a trampoline park where it serves a very small segment of kids. This serves a wider demographic of age, which is a positive. Trampoline parks are also very prone to accidents and injuries. We don't have that with this either."
Slick City's "waterless slide park" concept offers the thrills of elaborately swirling slides without the need to change into a bathing suit first. "Water parks are almost always loss leaders because they're so expensive to operate," he said. "This is a concept where parents don't have to worry about kids getting wet."
Bryant has also seen first-hand how fun it can be. While recently visiting a Slick City in St. Louis to meet with the owner there, he brought along his daughter and a few of her friends. After three hours there, he figured the kids would have tried out everything and would be more than ready to leave. "I thought my kids would have wanted to go and they didn't," he said. "They begged me to stay."
Slick City slides are known for their thrill-inducing configurations. One example is the Mega Launch, in which the slider races down a tall slide which then swoops upward at the end, propelling them high into the air before they land on air bags.
Another popular option is the Fast-Lane Racetrack, in which sliders race, side by side, down identical, hill-filled slides to see who gets to the bottom first.
Among the multiple other options are the Python -- a twisting, turning berm slide -- and the Twister, a long tube slide, where speed sends people spiraling around a mid-slide twist.
Another key component to Slick City success is its dry-slide technology, which was developed by inventor Gary Schmit after eight years of research and consultation with a professor of tribology (the study of friction and wear) who worked on NASA space stations.
"He's just been working and working and working on perfecting these slides and making them as fun, quick and fast as possible," Bryant said in an earlier interview.
It was Schmit who approached Bron Launsby, a St. Louis-born entrepreneur who owned multiple Sky Zones, about installing his patented Slick Slides in Launsby's trampoline parks.
The slides were such a successful addition at Launsby's Sky Zones that the men formed a partnership. Eventually, Launsby began selling off his Sky Zones and focused solely on slide parks, Bryant said.
Since Slick City's franchise launch in February 2024, Fargo has become the 15th franchise location. Nine parks across the country are currently open, but 39 franchises have been awarded and more than 40 are in development, according to the Slick City franchise website.
Because of the size and equipment requirements, the initial investment to open a park is between $1.5 million and $4.2 million, according to Slick city's franchise website. While the upfront cost is high, Launsby told the Franchise Times there's a good return on investment, with the brand's first location doing $4.1 million in sales.
Ticket prices typically start at $13.99 for age 3 and under and $25.99 for for a 90-minute stint for sliders age 4 and older.
However, Bryant hopes to enhance profitability with special programs like family days, adults-only evenings and after-hours events, in which the park is transformed into a glow-in-the-dark playland.
He also hopes Slick City's reputation for high-quality concessions like hand-made pizza will make it a natural choice for kids' parties. "It's not just a microwave type of concession stand," Bryant said.
In short, he hopes Slick City will become a magnet for everyone from families traveling to Fargo for tournaments to adults who want to embrace their inner child -- if only for a few trips down a slippery, sloping, swirling slide.