A historian for Lakeland Amusement Park wears many hats — including book publisher and former chairman of Amro Music Stores in Memphis.
Chip Averwater lives on Garner Lake and created a webpage about the Amusement Park several years ago. “I created the lakelandlake.com page (https://lakelandlake.com/lakeland-amusement-park/) a couple of years ago as kind of a retirement hobby. The lake lends itself so well to photography that I took some pictures, collected some others from residents, and even bought a drone and learned to fly it. The area has so much beauty I couldn’t resist sharing it through a website.”
He has fond memories of the Park, having come as a child and even playing in a battle of the bands. “I have a special affinity for the amusement park since I and many others came here as kids. My garage band was in a battle of the bands at the Pepsi Pavilion when I was a senior in high school.
“But some of the history was getting lost—it was difficult to even determine where the Amusement Park was. Several long-term residents, including Don Benfield, Dave Brown and Walt Drissel, spent time generously with me and we pieced it together. We even superimposed the amusement attractions over a recent aerial shot of the Lake. The library had a lot of history in its archives and many people have contributed pictures. It’s not complete (we’d love to have more pictures and history) but the story of the Park and Louis Garner is fascinating and it’s fun to relive that era of our past.’
His next hat is that of book publisher. “I’ve just released a new book, “Great Managers Are Always Nice.” The premise is somewhat controversial in that most people think managers have to be tough and unfriendly. The book contends there’s never a reason for a manager to be anything but nice, regardless of the situation—correcting behaviors, addressing underperformance, dealing with mistakes, resolving disputes, even firing. And it follows a mythical manager as he handles those and most other common management situations—nicely.”
The book is available from many local retailers, Amazon and Barnes & Noble, said Mr. Averwater.
Mr. Averwater said this is his second book. The first, “Retail Truths: The Unconventional Wisdom of Retailing” was released in 2012. “It’s a collection of over 400 “retail truths” I collected in 40 years of retailing in my family’s Fourth generation company, Amro Music Stores. He said Amro is one of the largest musical instrument retailers in the U.S.
And about the music store business. He is retired as chairman, noting, “I don’t go to Amro anymore. My brother, son, and nephew (fourth generation) have that under control and I try to stay out of their way. So I suppose I’m retired but it doesn’t feel like retirement. At the moment I’m helping my youngest son and a friend start a business. And I love to travel. So I’m as busy as ever—and loving it. I never want to be bored.”
And travel and lecturing is another one of his hats. He has been a featured speaker on management and retailing in the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, Australia and China.
His family has a bit of tenure on Garner Lake. “We’re celebrating that our #3 son has moved back and is buying a house on the Lake. That makes five Averwater families on the Lake: My parents Bob and Joan, Jan (his wife) and me, my brother Pat, our #2 son Robbie and our #3 son Lee.”
… Photo courtesy of Mr. Averwater.
