Mountain Park's sudden closing in 1987 was a shock to
everyone in
the Pioneer Valley. I suddenly realized that I had taken very few
photographs of the park while it was in operation, and I scrambled to
document what was left.
|
|
This was the original automobile
entrance to the parking lot, with the words MT PARK welded into the
framework. The gate was appropriated sometime around 2000.
|
|
Dominic Spadola was brought in
for one last task in 1988, when Jay Collins planned to sell the
merry-go-round. He set up dozens of small margarine tubs with
different colors of japanese oil paint. He would dip a rag in a
color and then walk the entire ride, smearing paint on the horse in a
seemingly random way. This was the magnificent result on the lead
horse.
|
|
This is the horse that would
eventually be known as Angie, after Angela Wright who helped save the
merry-go-round for the city of Holyoke.
|
|
Another terrific example of
Spadola's quick but effective work. Notice the light box for the
ring game hanging in the background at the top right of the image.
|
|
Examples of Spadola's work
remained all over the midway. This clown head was on the side of
the Mini Arcade.
|
|
Another one of Spadola's figures
that adorned the midway, with a vintage 1960's look. Many of
these figures were taken by a guy from Orange, MA, who called himself
the Orange Trader. He still has many in his warehouse and charges
exhorbitant prices (considering he didn't pay anything for them).
|
|
Spadola created an enormous
amount of artwork for the park's famous Dinosaur Den. This is the
ride's entrance door.
|
|
The Dinosaur Den was a
spectacular sight. These huge dinos (one on either side) stood
watch at the overhang. The mouths would move and the eyes lit
up. They had an iron frame covered with chicken wire and Celastic.
|
|
Over the years, the additions to
the Dinosaur Den got stranger and stranger. The caveman, made out
of Homasote, was at least sticking with the theme.
|
|
But what in tarnation were these
flower children doing in a dinosaur-themed dark ride?
|
|
For that matter, what was
Frankenstein doing there? This stunt, which bobbed up and down,
was near the exit of the ride and was visible from the midway. It
was stolen shortly after the park closed, and I have no idea how they
did it. The thing was made of iron and had to weigh at least 500
pounds. Originally, this space was occupied by an animatronic of a caveman dunking his wife into a big pot.
|
|
Spadola's last major job for the
park was the design of the Pirate's Den (which replaced the old Fun
House). The interior held a set of plywood dioramas colored with
florescent paint. The figures were blacklit at night and looked
spectacular.
|
|
Because of insurance
regulations, the ride had to include an easy means of escape in the
event of an emergency. So four garage doors were built into the
front and were wide open when the ride was in operation. During
the day, this is what a trip through the ride looked like.
|
|
These whimsical 1800s-style
figures were attached to the bandshell in the Clambake Pavilion.
|
|
This is the interior of the
Clambake Pavilion, looking out from the stage. Roger Fortin
helped build the laminated wood arches. The posts down the middle
were used in the winter to support the weight of snow. The
building was used to store rides and figures until the next season.
|
|
The Mini Arcade was located
across from the Clambake Pavilion. The whimsical back wall was
another Spadola creation.
|
|
The curved Frosty Joy stand
served soft ice cream, sundaes and milkshakes. To the right is
the ticket booth for the Bubble Bounce. To the left of the booth
would have been the Scrambler.
|
|
The end section of the Clambake
Pavilion served terrific pizza, which I often ate on my lunch breaks.
|
|
The Kentucky Derby was a horse
race game with water guns, next to the Dinosaur Den.
|
|
This sign originally hung in the
entrance to the Dinosaur Den.
|
|
The back end of the terrific and
bouncy Shiff Kiddie Coaster. The section of track pictured stood
on the edge of a cliff.
|
|
This was taken standing at the
base of the Puffing Billy lift hill. The boats are to the
left. The Whip is off to the right.
|
|
In the early 1990s, I was in the
band The Dots, playing keyboard. We took a series of publicity
stills at the park. The Dinosaur Den is just to the left of the
Chocolates stand. From left to right are Craig Kurtz, Scott
Haworth, me and David Gowler. The large broken triangular red
section behind us used to light up when the park was in operation.
|
|
Here's another clown head
designed by Spadola. It's amazing how his splashes of color and
line created such fun figures.
|
|
This Spadola clown was once atop
a billboard advertising the park.
|
|
Lots of Spadola figures were
placed throughout the Merry-Go-Round building. The big orange
pile on the left was a bounce castle that operated briefly. The
big black ring was a spare central gear for the Satellite.
|
|
Early on, this was a novelty
game. Then it became the Midway Lunch stand. It ended life
as a popular SkeeBall arena.
|
|
In
1988, Jay Collins agreed to
sell the beautiful Merry-Go-Round to a Holyoke non-profit group headed
by John Hickey. The ride had to be appraised, so Hickey got
Fredrick Fried, the country's foremost expert on carousels, to evaluate
it. I spent the day with Fried (pictured on the left). He
had a wealth of knowledge about the ride. I was amused that
we shared the same taste in clothes....
|
|
As a farewell, Hickey held one
last ride on the Merry-Go-Round. Over 1000 people showed up that
day, paying a dollar to take their final spin at Mountain Park.
Pictured in the foreground is Terry Lyons, who operated the ride in its
final year.
|
|
It began life in 1897 as a dance
hall, Then it became and arcade. It survived two hurricanes
and was the best home the park could have found for their
carousel. The upper structure was held in place by four giant
wooden trusses. The wood was a foot-and-a-half thick and forty
feet long. Unfortunately, John Hickey couldn't find a way to save
it. In 2005 it succumbed to arson. In this photo from 1988,
the entrance (normally on the far right) was repositioned for John
Hickey's event.
|
|
The Route 5 billboard was
re-painted by John Allen, a local performer, to help with John Hickey's
fundraising efforts.
|
|
This is a view of the north
midway, taken from the top of the Whip building in 1988.
|
|
With no buyers for the park, Jay
Collins sold off the rides one by one. The Ferris Wheel,
Scrambler, Train and Mangels Auto Cars went to Sandspit Amusment Park
on Prince Edward Island. I helped dismantle this giant wheel.
|
|
Winters often brought up to two
feet of snow on the midway. I'd shovel a path so that I could
make my rounds as watchman. Notice on the left that the Baseball
Game had been sold and the booth was boarded up. Near the center
of the image is the Birthday Game and to the right is the gypsy
fortune-telling booth.
|
|
This is a continuation of
"arcade row," which was established by Louis Pellessier in 1929.
The Playland arcade expanded into the area on the right once occupied
by Out of This World.
|
|
These were some of the last
remaining figures from Out of This World, placed over the new arcade
entrance on what used to be the ride's walk-over.
|
|
One of the Out of This World
robots remained above the arcade. The other was placed near the
Dodgems.
|
|
The structure of the
Tilt-a-Whirl stood like an alien skeleton.
|
|
The entrance to the Satellite
gradually deteriorated. It, like so much else in the park, was
made of Homasote.
|
|
For many years, this forbidding
pachyderm stood next to the Dodgems.
|
|
The company that came to claim
the Dinosaur Den wanted to take the big dinos with them, against
Roger's advice. When they cut the one on the right free of the
building, the huge beast tumbled to the midway. And there it lay
until it disintegrated.
|
|
The Mountain Flyer was an
amazingly narrow roller coaster, occupying about twenty feet at the
back edge of the park property. It packed quite a punch for its
size and had some really steep drops. When Jay Collins was trying
to sell the ride, noted coaster designer Bill Cobb (who built the
Riverside Cyclone among many others) came and walked the track to
appraise it. He was really impressed with how well it was
maintained.
|
|
The Mountain Flyer had a slight
curve to it, which helped throw you against the sides of the
well-padded train.
|
|
The coaster had a viscious
turnaround that slammed you hard to the right and then snapped you to
the left.
|
|
The return trip was a series of
quick rabbit hops.
|
|
Down into the brake run...
|
|
The brake run at night was a
little eerie.
|
|
The trains, chain, motor, brakes
and rollbacks were sold to Arnold's Park in Iowa to rebuild their own
coaster.
|
|
Vandals would climb the lift
hill, rip out the handrails and throw them through the roofs of the
buildings below. For liability reasons, Jay Collins had the
coaster demolished in 1990 after trying to give the structure away for
free. Here, Roger Fortin watches the turnaround (which he had
rebuilt so many times over the years) fall to a backhoe.
|
|
It took Allard Lumber of
Hatfield
two weeks to demolish the ride, cutting, pushing, pulling and smashing
the structure. It was surprisingly stubborn.
|
|
John Sabot, known to everyone at
the park as Lucky, ran the Flying Jets and the Scrambler. He was
also a watchman. Here he watches the demolition of the lift hill.
|
|
Dave Griffin, the park's
bookkeeper, was one of Jay Collins' right-hand men for many years.
|
|
Roger
Fortin
kept the park running for nearly 40 years. He was one of the best
bosses I ever had, a man of untiring dedication and high
integrity. He worked from six in the morning till after midnight
every day the park was open. He never complained. After the
park closed, he was charged with dismantling everything he had spent
his life maintaining. He created a vegetable garden in the dirt
that was once in front of the ballroom and busied himself that
way. Long after the park was dismantled, he still walked the
grounds every day. Roger passed away on July 15, 2011. He
was an inspiration to everyone who knew him.
|
|
Jay
Collins was a true
gentleman, one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. Like
Roger, he was tirelessly dedicated to the park. When he put the
park up for sale in 1987, I think he was truly surprised that no one
stepped forward to buy it.
|
|
Shortly after I left the park to
go work for the new Holyoke Merry-Go-Round, a series of suspicious
fires broke out. The first consumed the entire Clambake
Pavilion. The second, in 1994, burned down the entire south
stretch of buildings up to the Rollerball game. Thankfully, the
office was spared. The Holyoke Fire Department asked Jay Collins
if they could test out a new fire-retardant spray on the remaining
buildings, and he gave them the go-ahead. The spray didn't work
and the rest of the midway buildings down to the arcade burned to the
ground.
|
|
In 2000, this is what remained
of the burned-out tilted room from the original Fun House. It was
built by Roger Fortin and remained attached to the Pirates Den, hidden
from view. The grating on the ground was part of a jail-like maze of iron bars.
|
|
This was a drinking fountain next to Kiddieland. In the background are the remains of the park office after it had burned.
|
|
Eventually,
the only recognizeable remnant of the park was the ticket booth for the Casino,
abandoned in the woods. In 2002, crushed by vines and trees, it too
collapsed -- nearly 100 years after it was built.
|
Back to the Mountain Park Images page
|