FARMINGTON — During the months most Davis residents are busy brushing off the snow, Lagoon’s Lori Capener is busy brushing on the paint. Even with Lagoon closed for the winter, art and sign shop director Capener is busy sprucing up the look of rides and decorations to prepare for the spring season.

Capener said that much to the disbelief of some people, wintertime is a busier time than the summer for most Lagoon employees.

“A lot of people think we just leave and don’t work in the winter, but a lot of us are busier during the winter getting ready for the season to start up,” she said. “Some of the things I’m doing are repainting the Tidal Wave, the horses on the carousel and a kids’ ride, and changing, replacing and updating different kinds of signs around the park including the food and menu signs and the hand-painted signs. I’m also decorating some things around the park and doing some painting for a welder.”

Besides making the park look different for its new season, Capener is also currently involved with Lagoon’s new roller coaster, “Wicked,” which is scheduled to open in April.

“I’ve helped design the logo, the cars, the look of the station at the entrance of the ride and the overall look and theme of the ride,” she said. “I also get to pick the colors for the cars and the building and work with an outside vendor to make Wicked’s neon-lit sign.”

Capener also played a big part in Wicked’s planning and designing process over the winter.

“Wicked is a one-of-a-kind coaster that started with ideas from us designers and the manufacturers who helped us design it from square one,” Capener said. “We had always talked about what we wanted to try and what kind of ride would be a show stopper; we plan to open it right when the park opens up this season and have it be big enough for people to see from the freeway. We have outside contractors still working on it, and the manufacturers from Germany even come here to oversee the progress.”

Although she has fun doing what she does, Capener said her job right now is bigger and more demanding than it looks from the outside.

“Kids might think my job is just all art and drawing and painting, but you also have to study math, English and other subjects and learn to get along with people in the business world,” she said. “There are other parts of it that are just as important as being an artist, and with this job you have to see the big picture and not just concentrate on one thing. In high school I just liked to focus on art all day, and I found out with this job that there are so many other things that are such a big part of being successful in this position.”

When she’s not working hard to prepare for Lagoon’s opening, Capener is out getting kids interested in what she does.

“I go out and talk to schools on career days about what I do or whenever I get invited,” she said. “The high school kids who are into art get way interested, and the elementary school kids love it because any job at Lagoon sounds great to them.”

After all her hard work leading up to the 2007 season is done, Capener hopes as many people as possible get out and experience Lagoon once it opens April 7.

“Every year we do a better and better job to take the park to the next level, and we try to get some new attraction every year to keep people coming back to see what’s new,” she said. “Our goal here is to have big things planned for this upcoming season and make sure people of all ages come here and have fun. I’m excited to get to be a part of it all.”