Tribe opens water park at Mississippi resort

John Porretto

Monday, July 15, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

JACKSON, Miss. -- A 15-acre, $20 million water park is the latest addition to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians' emerging Pearl River Resort in Neshoba County.

Geyser Falls Water Theme Park opened last week, along with a Hollywood Star Cars exhibit and a light-and-water show featuring lasers, fountains and pyrotechnics.

All are part of the Choctaws' evolving $750 million resort in the rolling red clay hills of east central Mississippi.

"The latest expansion helps accomplish our goal of appealing to a wider range of consumers across the country," said Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin, the longtime tribal leader who created the resort and has helped lift the Choctaws from dire poverty in the past two decades.

The Choctaws recently celebrated the eighth anniversary of The Silver Star Hotel & Casino, the catalyst for a variety of developments on the reservation in recent years.

Silver Star is Mississippi's only land-based casino and the state's highest-grossing gambling operation.

On Sept. 6 the tribe will open its next gambling enterprise, the $177 million Golden Moon Hotel & Casino -- located directly across Mississippi 16 from Silver Star.

Geyser Falls features 12 waterslides, including three six-story slides and a massive wave pool. It's located in the 285-acre Lake Pushmataha recreational development, which also will have a white-sand lagoon, a 10,000-seat amphitheater and a 250-room hotel.

The Star Cars exhibit includes 25 cars from film and television fame, such as a 1949 Mercury driven by James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause."

The Choctaws last year issued $200 million in bonds to help fund the resort. Under Martin's leadership, the 8,900-member tribe has established an array of profitable businesses and reinvested hundreds of millions of dollars in the 30,000-acre reservation about 65 miles northeast of Jackson.

Pearl River Resort eventually will employ some 7,800 people -- most of whom will be non-tribal members from surrounding communities.