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Firefighters walk past the burning remains of the ballroom at Conneaut Lake par. The blaze destroyed the structure early Friday morning.
/ Meadville Tribune/CNHI


Published August 24, 2008 09:09 pm -
The fabled Conneaut Lake Park didn't open for the 2007 season because of debt totaling $2 million, and a fire has destroyed the historic Dreamland Ballroom and other parts of the midway. The recent devastation may have sealed the home of the famous Blue Streak's fate for good. What are your memories of summer at the park? E-mail jraykie@sharonherald.com and we'll publish them here online.



In simpler times, when Conneaut Lake Park was the hit of summer



Norma King, Erie, Pa.

"Oh how I loved going to Conneaut Lake Park. I will never forget my first experience on the Blue Streak. After being persuaded at the age of 11 to go on it, I thought 'oh ok this is not so bad' till we hit the top of the hill and dropped. That was the end for me. I screamed nonstop, and at the end that seemed forever, I got out as fast as I could and down I went in a faint. Needless to say that cured me of roller coasters. My next excursion was through The Fun House, where my next cure happened. I do not like fun houses anymore either. As I got older and had children, we made the trip every weekend from Sharon to spend the entire day of rides, food and games. They loved it. We would go and ride the "Ultimate Trip" to cool down. What a great park and fond memories. I miss Conneaut. We live in Erie now and they take their children to Waldemeer Park, but there is nothing like good old Conneaut."

Roberta Pugh, Batavia, New York

“My grandfather grew up in Pittsburgh and spent summers in Conneaut Lake and going to the park. When he grew up and had children of his own, he took them to the lake as well. My father has many stories of his summers there. While in college, he also spent long weekends working on his Uncle's cottages that were won in a poker game.

“As a kid in the late 80's and early 90's my parents would take me and my 4 siblings up from Florida to visit our Mimi & Papa and cousins in Pittsburgh every summer. One year the parents decided to take us all to Conneaut Lake Park. All I remember from that day was this ride called, "The Hell Hole." I begged my parents to let me go on it, and when they did, I didn't want to get off of it. My brothers flipped themselves upside-down and one threw M&M's to the other to catch in his mouth. We got kicked off the ride finally when they saw all the M&M's everywhere. We all got sick after we found our balance, but that didn't change the fact that we had an awesome time there that day.

“When my siblings and I got older we stopped going north so often and forgot about Conneaut Lake Park. When I graduated from boarding school in Pennsylvania, everyone thought that having two graduation parties would be ridiculous (one in FL, and the other in PA), so we had it at the lake. We've been going back every year since. Last year when we remembered our trip to the park after driving past it to find our cottage, we learned that it had closed that year. I felt cheated.”

Arnold Frank, Palm Springs, Calif.

“My memories of Conneaut Lake Park are still vivid even after 50 years or so. Our family owned the Myer Frank Furniture stores in Farrell and Warren, Ohio. Every year as long as I can remember we would close both stores for an entire day and invite all of our employees and their families for a whole day outing at the amusement park. We would load a couple of our delivery trucks with beer, soda and all kinds of food for everyone to enjoy.“The big thrill for me back than was that everyone got loads of free tickets to enjoy all the rides and games. I loved it because as a family member I always got extra tickets. Everyone joined in volleyball, horseshoe throwing, three-legged sack races, swimming and just having a terrific time. This always seemed to be the highlight of the year for the employees and their families as well as the entire Frank family. I sure do miss Conneaut Lake our picnics, employees and most especially those days gone by.”

Vicki Buckley, Stoneboro



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