By Molly Snyder Senior Writer Published Sep 16, 2020 at 12:30 PM Photography: Royal Brevvaxling

After 68 years as a leading attraction in the Wisconsin Dells area, the Tommy Bartlett Show announced today that it would close permanently. The show will not be able to recover after losing the 2020 season to COVID-19.

Started by Tommy Bartlett in 1952 as a touring water ski exposition, the iconic show has been a Lake Delton staple since 1953, including the summer of 2008 when heavy rains caused a washout that drained the lake. 

Company president Tom Diehl made the announcement on Wednesday.

“It is with great sadness that we announce the Tommy Bartlett Show will not be able to make a comeback in 2021 as we had hoped," says Diehl. "Each fall, we begin to plan for the next season, and with so much uncertainty surrounding the future of the pandemic and travel, we cannot undergo additional financial risk and investment to begin planning for summer 2021. While we are grateful that we have had almost seven decades of entertaining visitors in Wisconsin Dells, we have no choice."


Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.

Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.