Families lament closing of Bonnie Springs near Las Vegas — VIDEO

Sunday afternoon was Shelle Gugliuzza’s last opportunity to photograph her three grandchildren at Bonnie Springs Ranch.

The children stuck their faces through a cardboard cutout, pretending to be members of the replica Old West town.

“I wish the owners good luck, and I wish that somebody else could take this over,” Gugliuzza said after snapping a photo of 4-year-old Corey, 10-year-old Ray and 8-year-old Mariah.

Bonnie Springs, which opened as a tourist attraction in 1958, had its last day of operations on Sunday. Families waited in long lines to visit the restaurant, model town, riding stables and petting zoo for the last time.

The ranch’s owners, the children of former owner Bonnie Levinson, sold Bonnie Springs to Joel Laub, who seeks to build luxury homes on the 64 acres. The Clark County Commission in February signed off on tentative design details for the luxury homes, which some visitors lamented Sunday afternoon.

Gugliuzza said she visited the ranch with her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren on Sunday to see “a little piece of history go away.”

“I used to come out here a long time ago with my older kids, and now I have my younger ones here, and it’s sad to see it going away,” she said.

Her grandson Ray said he liked visiting Bonnie Springs because there’s “a lot of things to do.” Ray said he liked the animals in the petting zoo, especially the sheep.

The petting zoo seemed to be the main attraction as closing time drew near Sunday evening, with families roaming around and petting animals, including two large sheep standing in the open near the zoo’s entrance.

Michelle Guzman, wearing a Bonnie Springs Zoo T-shirt, also revisited the ranch with her family on Sunday afternoon.

“I’ve been here since early 2000,” she said. “I came here first with my parents, and it’s going to be the last time I come with my parents, too.”

Guzman said her favorite part about visiting Bonnie Springs was seeing the animals, especially the capybaras, which she said looked like “giant hamsters.” Her daughter, 7-year-old Kylie, said her favorite animals were the peacocks visitors see while riding the train.

“I don’t think they should be building the homes here. I’m really sad; this is a really nice place,” Guzman said, adding later that she has brought her daughter to Bonnie Springs since Kylie was a baby.

Bob Gronauer, an attorney for Laub, said in an interview last week that all the animals at Bonnie Springs have a place to go when the ranch closes.

“All the animals are accounted for to be moved off the property,” he said. “The family has been working with all the agencies that one would work with in respect to moving and relocating the animals to different places.”

Gronauer said that some of the animals will be kept by the Bonnie Springs family, while others will be relocated to zoos in California and Nevada.

John Elwell, who visited Bonnie Springs on Sunday with his wife and two young daughters, said that like many others, he wishes the replica town would stay open.

“I feel like it’s a thing that people in Las Vegas are going to miss,” he said. “But I’m also guilty — I’ve only been out here a few times. So maybe if we patronized it more it wouldn’t be leaving us.”

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.