After nearly seven decades, the curtain has closed on one of Wisconsin’s top tourist attractions.
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Boats formerly used to pull water skiers in the Tommy Bartlett Show have been stored in a garage this summer.
Signatures of workers associated with the Tommy Bartlett Show are pictured on a ledger that marked the business' 60th anniversary.
Memorabilia from 68 years of entertaining vacationers fills the Tommy Bartlett Show's office. For many, the show evoked memories of endless summers from childhood.
The Tommy Bartlett stage area sat high and dry after floodwaters breached a bank of Lake Delton and drained the lake on June 9, 2008.
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Social media reaction to closing of the Tommy Bartlett show
Mr. T sheds a tear
— Scary Alvarez (@barryisthedon) September 16, 2020
'Makes me so so so sad'
One of the first memories I have in my life is when I was 2 or 3 years old watching my dad fly the kite at the Tommy Bartlett show. That place is the reason I'm from the Dells. This makes me so so so sad. I hate COVID so goddamn much. https://t.co/QmwwpfW701
— Kyle T (@kyletheiler4) September 16, 2020
'A terrible loss'
I have never seen the Tommy Bartlett show and yet I still feel this as a terrible loss to the the region's culture. The Tommy Bartlett show is the Bamiyan Buddhas of Wisconsin. https://t.co/M45Pwo9DqW
— Peter Sagal (@petersagal) September 16, 2020
'So glad I saw this'
So glad I saw this last year!
— Stacey Grosnick (@StaceyGPT) September 16, 2020
I've never seen the Tommy Bartlett show...
I’ve never seen the Tommy Bartlett show, but feel like I have after passing the 10,000,000 billboards for it outside of the Dells https://t.co/DcUO117oSN
— Kate Malmon (@saintkate) September 16, 2020
Nostalgic for the 'kitschiness'
I have never gone to see the Tommy Bartlett. And now I feel a strange nostalgia/sadness for the kitschiness that I will never get to see. Is this how the end of days really hits?
— Kim Vanderwall (@KimSVanderwall) September 16, 2020
'We are doomed'
Now I know we are doomed.
— Janet Scott (@jls0113) September 16, 2020
Like something from a Bill Murray movie
Never saw the Tommy Bartlett Show. Always seemed like a program that might show up as part of a scene in an old Bill Murray movie though based on the billboards.
— Sam Wunderle (@Sam_Wunderle) September 16, 2020
RIP billboards
RIP Wisconsin Billboardshttps://t.co/m6gu3haUAO
— Least Famous John Egan (@JohnEganComedy) September 16, 2020
Photos: Relive draining of Lake Delton in epic 2008 floods
Lake Delton breach, 2008
Lake Delton broke through a 400- to 500-foot section of primarily sand underneath Highway A on June 9, 2008, and drained the 267-acre lake into the Wisconsin River. Five homes on the lake were destroyed and several businesses on the lake lost millions of dollars in revenue.
Draining Lake Delton, 2008
A home near the 254-acre Lake Delton was damaged when floodwaters breached the bank and drained the lake June 9, 2008.
Tommy Bartlett site, 2008
The stage area for the Water Ski shows put on by Tommy Bartlett on Lake Delton sits on the lake bottom after floodwaters breached the bank and drained the lake June 9, 2008.
Washed-out Highway A, 2008
A washed-out Highway A was damaged when the water ran out of Lake Delton on June 9, 2008.
Damage from new channel, 2008
Another view of the new channel created when floodwaters caused water to run out of Lake Delton on June 9, 2008. Several houses were destroyed.
High and dry, 2008
Boats were left dry when the water ran out of Lake Delton near the Wisconsin Dells on June 9, 2008.
Collapsed road, 2008
Sauk County officials stand on the edge of a collapsed portion of Highway A near the village of Lake Delton on June 9, 2008.
Stranded boat, 2008
Boats were left dry when the water ran out of Lake Delton near the Wisconsin Dells on June 9, 2008.
No lake view, 2008
The view of what was left of Lake Delton on Monday, June 9, 2008.
No water skiing, 2008
People wade in what remains of Lake Delton near the Tommy Bartlett Show, the location of well-known water ski shows, on June 9, 2008.
Seeing the bottom, 2008
You can see the bottom of Lake Dalton on June 9, 2008.
Searching for treasure, 2008
Walking on the bottom of what used to be Lake Delton on June 9, 2008, Tyson Holtz uses a metal detector to search for formerly sunken treasure. The lake drained through a new channel it cut for itself into the Wisconsin River.
Lake still dry, 2008
Lake Delton was still dry July 17, 2008, after a flood ruptured a road embankment and drained the lake in the Wisconsin Dells area.
Business dries up, 2008
Linda Allessi, owner of Sandrift Resort, sits near her resort's empty beach on Lake Delton and tosses bread to a duck on July 17, 2008. The flood that drained Lake Delton resulted in a secondary flood of cancellations at small resorts along the dry lake.
Aftermath of flood
Linda, left, and Chris Allessi sit on the dock of their resort overlooking drained Lake Delton on July 17, 2008.
Towing boats, 2008
Businesses that could remove stranded boats from Lake Delton were in demand after a June flood washed out a road and drained the lake in the popular vacation resort area of Wisconsin Dells.
No more lake, 2008
Boats had to be removed from the dry lake. Lake Delton is pictured here July 17, 2008.
Drained Lake Delton aerial, 2008
An aerial photo taken June 21, 2008, of the drained Lake Delton.
