When I was young, my family would go to Cedar Point and Geauga Lake a few times each year. I remember being fascinated by the way rides like Mr. Hyde’s Nasty Fall, Top Thrill Dragster, and many others functioned.
The largest event for the family was Octoberfest. Mom would drive home so my dad could drink. We didn’t know at the time that it was the park’s final day, but something felt off. When we drove up, I looked at the field that used to have that weird, backwards roller coaster (X-Flight) and wondered where it had gone. I was disappointed to see Steel Venom closed, as I was finally tall enough to ride. Every time we went, we always seemed to go to the left, and go towards Beaverland Mine Ride, but this time we turned right because I wanted to see for myself that Steel Venom was closed, and to see where Mr. Hyde’s Nasty Fall had stood (I would’ve also been tall enough for that one). We walked over and rode Head Spin, which was my favorite coaster at the time, then when we got off, I noticed that Skyscraper (the observation tower) was also closed. After being disappointed, we rode Big Dipper and my dad’s favorite flat ride, El Dorado. We made our way to the back via the path that went behind Raging Wolf Bobs, and the entire back section felt abandoned. The rides had hardly anyone riding them, the Happy Harbor nets only had a couple of other kids, and the sandbox underneath was flooded and filled with weeds. When we rode Dino Island, there was only one other group back there. After finishing up, we made our way up the boardwalk, which had been moved to the middle of the lake. During that walk around the back, we dropped my father off at the Golden Nugget arcade, which had a stage set up inside for polka bands, and the father of my now sister-in-law happened to be in the band that was on the stage that day. At the time, my brother and his wife were still dating. At the same time all that was going on, my Grandmother was on a date with someone to whom she eventually got engaged. He has since passed, but that day, he won me a dog from one of the midway games and gave it to me when we met back up towards the end of the day. As the day grew to an end, many of the game operators were giving me prizes from the games, they were selling frozen pizzas for $5, and there seemed to be tons of operators hopping on rides. Rules seemed to be very lax that day. We went home and, being 7 years old, I hadn’t thought much of it.
About 2 weeks later, I was playing in the living room while my father was mowing the lawn. The news was on, and I remember the news lady saying that Geauga lake was never reopening. I started bawling my eyes out. I ran outside and let him know what happened. A few years went by, and there were cars from Raging Wolf Bobs on Craigslist and my dad said no to them. A few more years went by, and I happened to stumble upon them again by complete accident. This time, I convinced my dad to get them, and that was the start of the Amusement Preservation Museum! I have been working on the museum project with my dad since 2017. We have done quite a few events with Euclid Beach Park Now, and as of late 2024, I have had the honor of officially being on the board!
I still look back and find it crazy how much an amusement park closing has changed my life, but it has created some amazing memories and a lifelong goal of sharing the history of parks gone by!
