'Cause you're not here

Conneaut Lake Park is dead.

It's a terrible thing and the death is maybe not technically official at this point. But last year the Trustees sold the park to a developer, who claimed to have fallen in love with the park. There were some early positive signs, like bringing in fairground rides to make the park a bit busier and to look less decrepit, something that offset his selling off or scrapping older rides. Some of this one could defend as sensible. It may be impressive that the park had the oldest operating Tilt-A-Whirl, but to anyone who isn't an amusement park freak it's just a really old-looking Tilt-A-Whirl with rust stains and torn seats.

But then there were less defensible things, such as scrapping the Tumble Bug, last of the two of that model ride known to still operate. Or spreading word about how the Blue Streak roller coaster would not operate this year, while he evaluated its safety. ``Evaluating a ride for safety'' is a quick way to manufacture consent for taking out a beloved old ride since, after all, who could be opposed to insisting a ride be safe? The thing is, Blue Streak's been operating for years, and passed inspections for years. And it's hard for a wooden roller coaster that's getting regular maintenance to actually get unsafe. The whole thing is a bunch of trusses, ready to shift the load around.

And then things got worse. The guy was revealed to have been a developer in Philadelphia who had demolished a building that had historical-preservation rules on it. (I forget the details and do they really matter?) In August, the Blue Streak was actually legitimately damaged in a storm. Not the one in which I destroyed my car, by the way, though I wondered when I first heard about it.

Then three weeks ago, they burned down the Blue Streak. Not on purpose, is the kayfabe. They were doing some demolition work (initially reported as being done without a permit, although it appears that they did have one). And also doing a ``controlled'' burn of some debris and somehow, what do you know, but the fire spread to the roller coaster and damaged it beyond what the guy was willing to pay to rebuild. And so they demolished the rest.

There are still a few pieces of the park left. The antique carousel with its five original horses and Carousel Works replacements for the rest. The Devil's Den dark ride. But that's about all, of this precious 130-year-old park that survived so very much.

It has to be counted as a Covid-19 victim. From how the park was doing in 2018 and 2019 it was staggering back to life. But the park couldn't open in 2020 and it was unlikely it could have functioned in 2021 either and the Trustees sold to someone with a slick lie (I meant to write 'line' and missed a keystroke, but we'll let it stand) about keeping the park going.

So far it's the only park I know of to be killed by Covid-19, and if this is the only amusement park lost to it the industry will have been incredibly fortunate. I don't know what amusement park I've visited that I would sacrifice in its place (though what I've heard of Marineland Canada sets me against it).

You can find, in reverse chronological order, my journal of our discovery of this park and first experience at it. I have similar tags for our three subsequent visits to the park, through to 2017. We hadn't been able to make it in 2018 and 2019, thinking that the park was stable enough we might talk some of our pinball-and-amusement-park friends into visiting around our Pinburgh trip for 2020.

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To happier stuff, and things still around and carrying on successfully: the Crossroads Village carousel, visited just a few weeks ago.

Finally in the carousel building, looking at what is the fastest carousel in Michigan (against not much competition, granted). Still, six rotations per minute, which is about what you need for a merry-go-round to be a thrill ride.

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The building has stuff for sale as fundraiser too. I don't know what the Santa cost.

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Looking over the carousel and, over to the right, the counter where the carousel people sell their souvenir stuff.

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Trivia: 88 of the 150 boardinghouses in 1800 New York City were run by women. Source: America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines, Gail Collins.

Currently Reading: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cartoon Animals, Jeff Rovin. And so now I'm learning that Elsie the Cow's husband is Elmer the Elmer's Glue cow. Also, I quirk an eyebrow at the assertion that Richie Rich's dog Dollar's most famous adventure is the one where he ``stows away on a plane bound for the North Pole. When the plane crash-lands, he is adopted by an Eskimo family and becomes a very successful sled dog (wearing a heavy coat he found in the wreckage of the plane). While running from a polar bear, Dollar discovers an untapped oil field --- which, when he's found by Richie, increases the boy's phenomenal wealth''. First, I'm a big Richie Rich fan and I have never heard a word or hint of this story ever. But then also there were upwards of 94 Richie Rich universe comics per month for about 25 years straight so it's impossible to have read them all. But also: I've read enough Dollar stories to know there's no memorable Dollar stories, thank you.

PS: From my First A-to-Z: Z-transform, which I bet isn't even the last transform in alphabetical order.