CNHI News Service
CONNEAUT LAKE
April 16, 2009 05:20 pm
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Most rides will be operational at Conneaut Lake Park amusement park this summer, but its famed Blue Streak wooden-tracked roller coaster won’t be operating until at least 2010.
“We feel that this was a milestone for us,” Jack Moyers, chairman of the Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park, said of securing a lease agreement to get most rides operational for 2009 after a two-year closure.
Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park, owner of the 117-year-old amusement park, outlined operational plans for the 2009 season Tuesday night at a public meeting attended by about 100 people at the park’s Hotel Conneaut.
The announcement by Moyers that a lease agreement had been reached with Steve Lisko of Lowellville, Ohio, to have “90 percent of the rides” open this year was met with applause.
However, the Blue Streak won’t open be one of them, Moyers said. “Possibly by the end of next (2010) season (the Blue Streak could return) because it’s been sitting idle for a couple of years,” Moyers said. The wooden-track roller coaster hasn’t had any maintenance done to it, and it’s gone through three winters since its most recent run. Moyers said it’s unknown at this point how much work and money will be needed to get it operational.
Rides at the amusement park didn’t operate in 2007 and 2008 because of financial problems at the park, but the park’s Beach Club tavern and eatery and Hotel Conneaut were open part of the 2007 season and again in 2008; they will be open this season as well.
Moyers said the park’s train ride, carousel and other rides will be in operation this summer. Lisko also may bring in other rides as well as concession trailers for the beginning of the season.
The park traditionally opens for the season on the Memorial Day holiday weekend, which is May 23 through 25 this year. It’s expected to have about 100 local employees this summer, he said. The park, when it was fully operational in years past, had about 200 workers.
“We want to restore as many of the rides as we can,” Moyers said.
There are benchmarks in the lease contract to have rides operational, Moyers said. What rides will be operational when the park opens remains to be seen, he said.
The park also will have Don Weyel back in business with his ponies, as he reopens a longtime and popular pony track attraction, Moyers said.
Trustee still are seeking operators to lease other parts of the facility such as its water park, games along the midway, marina, Camperland campground and convention hall.
The midway at the park has suffered some setbacks in the last couple of years with the loss of the former Dreamland Ballroom building to a major fire, and the collapse of one its other buildings, the former bowling alley.
The park will undergo some changes this year including a campaign to restore its boardwalk along the beach, and charging for parking in 2009. Money generated by parking fees will go into a special maintenance fund for roads that aren’t connected to other areas of the park that generate revenue like rides or concessions. “We have to find ways to generate revenue,” Moyers said.
Trustees still are wrestling with about $2.4 million in debt it inherited from previous owners and operators, Moyers said.
Restroom areas at Camper-land also are to be restored this year, and boat dock spaces on the lake are to be renovated.
Moyers said the trustees have not been spending money ahead of time, but they are open to spending money when it has the cash on hand.
Frank Jones, owner of the Dry Dock Bar & Grille near the park, told Moyers that a lot of people have shied away from giving money to the park because of poor financial operations in the past.
“People need to be reassured,” Jones said.
“We’re going to prove ourselves,” Moyers said of getting the park back into operation in 2009. “The community has to support the park as well as the tourists. Everybody has to get behind the park.”
That’s something Mike Dzugan, 60, of Espyville, a long-time fan of the park, hopes will happen.
“I love the park. I want to see it prosper,” Dzugan said. “Everything, from what they say, sounds like it will work. It’s just not going to happen overnight.”
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