A sky ride to Deer Island nearly happened decades ago. Could gondolas come to Biloxi now?
Biloxi didn’t get its ski lift ride to Deer Island proposed in the 1970s, but there’s talk now of a sky ride to carry tourists and locals along the beach from Edgewater Mall to the Biloxi Bay Bridge.
The ski lift was the idea of former Biloxi Mayor Jerry O’Keefe, who took his dream to the Biloxi Planning Commission in May 1978. He wanted Biloxi to acquire a ski lift to carry people from mainland Biloxi out over the water to the western end of Deer Island. The island is just off the coast of Biloxi, but many people don’t ever step on it unless they have a boat.
The gondola-style ski lift was free as surplus from the federal government. Bringing the equipment from the North Carolina mountains would take $50,000 to $100,000 and O’Keefe said it would take another $300,000 to $400,000 to build a tower and install the lift to Deer Island.
“We can get a $1 million project for half price and it is in as good condition as it was when it was put up nine years ago,” O’Keefe said in 1978.
He got the chairlift to Biloxi, but it was never installed and the equipment was believed to have been sold years later for scrap.
Now 45 years later, Craig DeRoche is posting on social media his idea for Biloxi Beach Sky Ride — a gondola-style sky ride he envisions running along the beach, from Edgewater Mall, past the Coast Coliseum, the Biloxi Lighthouse and casinos, to near the Biloxi Bay Bridge.
Dream and plans
“The city of Biloxi needs a cable car system like the one in Disney World,” said DeRoche, who is a former Long Beach police officer and lives in Biloxi.
He got the idea for a Biloxi sky ride while riding the Disney Skyliner gondolas at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and took videos and photos to bring home.
The ride gave him a sense of flying, he said, and and said a similar ride along the beach in Biloxi, where people could admire the sunsets and take in the views, could be very popular.
“This is a family or tourist attraction for sure,” he said.
He’s been posting his idea since October on Facebook and suggests Biloxi could use the technology developed at Disney or the design used in La Paz, Bolivia.
The cars are designed to operate in high winds, but can be removed and stored in a warehouse when tropical weather approaches, he said.
He envisions six stations along the route where riders could get on and off the sky ride — in front of Edgewater Mall, the Coast Coliseum, at Veterans Avenue, Biloxi Lighthouse, the Small Craft Harbor and Biloxi Point.
It could bring people staying at hotels and casinos in east Biloxi to conventions at the Coliseum in west Biloxi and transport people between casinos and attractions, like the new Paradise Pier amusement park opening soon at Margaritaville Resort Biloxi.
How to pay for ride in sky
DeRoche hasn’t been to the Biloxi Council with his idea, but he has talked to his councilmen Paul Tisdale, who said he could present his idea to the public if he wants to attend the Ward 5 meeting at the end of March.
Gondola systems are an extremely cost efficient method of transportation, DeRoche said, but he’s not proposing to pay for the sky ride.
“I’m the idea guy,” he said.
He suggests Biloxi could build the gondola, as the city considered doing with the chairlift to Deer Island.
“They put up that Shucker’s stadium,” he said. “They can do this.”
Advertising could be wrapped on the gondolas to help with expenses along with the fee to ride, he said.
He’s also looked into the EB-5 Visa program to raise the money from foreign investors who want to secure EB-5 visas and permanent U.S. residency. The program was eyed by developers who wanted to build a casino at the Gulfport Harbor.
“The appeal and excitement of this attraction would be another premiere calling card for the city of Biloxi and our ‘open for business’ campaign,” he said.
“It’s doable,” DeRoche said, if someone just says they are willing to look at his idea.
