Everything Must Go At Shangri La Resort

By Craig Day, News On 6

MONKEY ISLAND, OK -- Everything inside an Oklahoma tourist landmark is up for bid. From weddings to reunions, honeymoons and vacations, thousands of people have special memories of Shangri La Resort on Monkey Island on Grand Lake.

Now all of those reminders of the past, four decades worth, are on the auction block.

"Everything has to go. The demolition crews are going to start hopefully in the next two to three weeks," said Matt Benn, resort operations director.

When operations director Matt Benn says everything must go, he means everything. From water fountains still attached to the wall, to hotel room furniture, even a grand piano that has entertained thousands of resort guests, it's all for sale.

"I think if you can't find something here you want, why they don't make it," said Joe Barker, bargain hunter.

Everything has to be sold before the resort buildings are torn down to make way for a new resort being built from scratch.

"It's a big transition, but hopefully, we hope for the betterment of the future. We're going to get this resort going again and do something that is going to be special for Northeastern Oklahoma, but also the state of Oklahoma," said Benn.

Shangri La was built in the mid 60's, but became too outdated to make it competitive with other resorts in the region. So the owners will build a new resort with a hotel and convention center called "The Peninsula" on the site of the old Shangri La.

"Everybody has a memory, but change has to happen for this place to become special again," said Benn.

So if you need table settings for 1,000 of your closest friends, a racquetball court or anything from chandeliers to sombreros, the old Shangri La is the place to find them.

Everything in the resort's recreation center will be auctioned on Wednesday, with fitness equipment on the auction block on Thursday.

The main resort building with the kitchen and hotel room contents will be auctioned April 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Everything is being auctioned except the golden eagle on top of Shangri La's main building; they'll use that on the new building.