Florida Tracks & Trails abruptly closes; owner claims ‘terrible professional advice’

A place for athletes and families, the 1,000 acres of Florida Tracks and Trails in Charlotte County was an attraction for adventure seekers, until it suddenly closed Monday.

WINK News went out to the property to find the gates locked and a sign that read: “Florida Tracks and Trails is closed temporarily.”

Dale Qualls of Punta Gorda reminisced on the park saying, “It didn’t matter if you were four, it didn’t matter if you were 60, everybody was having fun … It’s sad to see them leave because now everybody else is going to have to resort back to their old ways.”

The park offered camping, motocross tracks, ATV and dirt-bike trails, paintball, a fresh-water beach, food & drink and more.

Tiffanie Cool is the operations manager. She and her father opened the family-friendly adventure park off Bermont Road in 2015.

Cool ran the park along with her father and continued to do so after his passing in June.

“This was his dream,” she said. “For it to be taken so close to his death is just devastating.”

Cool says the closure is temporary but tells us it’s unclear if the park will ever be able to reopen.

She blames the closure on “terrible professional advice,” which caused the business to file for bankruptcy, “Unfortunately, parties with other financial interest decided to liquidate the business was more beneficial to them than to continue operations. And we obviously disagree.”

The rest of the events scheduled for the park this year are now canceled.

The closure will put an end to weekend traditions for many families in Southwest Florida.