The Thrill Behind The Rides

For Allen Palovik, the real thrill of working at Knott's Berry Farm doesn't come from the roller coasters.

When GhostRider roars past his office, Allen Palovik doesn't need to look to know it's there.

"I can feel it rumble when it goes by," he reveals. "Things shake."

But that's just part of life in the amusement park business, concedes Palovik, supervisor of reprographics at Knott's Berry Farm, in Buena Park, Calif. GhostRider, the park's new wooden roller coaster, runs right past the building that houses his seven-employee in-plant.

"As far as the sound...we've gotten used to it," Palovik adds.

Usually, though, the sound is drowned out by the in-plant's busy presses as they churn out promotional material, menus, place mats, fliers and other material used to support the 150-acre theme park.

The in-plant, which opened in 1956, Palovik says, uses two Hamada presses—one with a T-head—and a pair of A.B.Dick 360s—one of which also sports a T-head. This lets the in-plant handle two-color and some short-run four-color jobs. All of Knott's Berry Farm's printing comes to the in-plant, and Palovik then farms out the larger, more complex jobs, such as park tickets and maps.

"Anything on paper that says Knott's Berry Farm has come through our department," says Palovik, with a hint of pride.

Though Knott's Berry Farm is now owned by Cedar Fair L.P., which runs several other amusement parks, Palovik's shop prints only for Knott's—but there's more than enough work there to keep his shop busy.

"Every year we have a new ride or something new to promote," he points out. For example, the park is in the process of opening a new water park called Soak City USA.

"We're creating a lot of advertisement for it," he says. "A lot of brochures, fliers, advertisement pieces."

And envelopes. The in-plant recently printed a job on translucent envelopes (the clear paper was meant to draw allusions to the clarity of Soak City USA's water).

The park is also remodeling a nearby hotel and restaurant, which keeps the in-plant busy printing menus and related items.

But it's the rides that make working at an amusement park fun. Palovik confesses that he still enjoys trying out the new coasters.

"Whenever there's a new ride, I go out and test it out," he says.

A Family Business

Palovik is a third generation Knott's Berry Farm employee. His father worked there 28 years and his grandfather preceded him. Palovik started pushing a broom there 25 years ago, when he was 16.

After getting a degree in advertising design, he joined the reproduction department as a graphic artist. Today he oversees one graphic artist, a prepress/production coordinator, a department assistant, two press operators and a bindery worker.

Palovik's vice president has a print background and once worked at the in-plant, so Palovik feels he has support within the company. Still, he keeps a close watch on costs and does price comparisons with outside printers so he knows when to keep a job in-house and when to outsource it.

Palovik enjoys his work and the sense of accomplishment he gets from watching jobs progress from ideas to final pieces.

"I like being involved in the creation of a project from start to finish," he says.

And when he sees a promotional item on display in a fast food restaurant, he says he's filled with pride knowing that the item once passed through his hands.

For Palovik, the thrill of printing outweighs the hair-raising excitement of GhostRider any day.

by Bob Neubauer