By Lisa Byers
Sabrina Liller has been an “amusement park junkie” pretty much all of her life.
“I think I was born with it,” the 32-year-old Allentown resident said. “The entire experience of visiting a park — the sights, the sounds, the smells, the rides, everything — is just magical to me.”
Prior to her 11th birthday, though, there was one thing about amusement parks that scared Liller like nothing else.
“In full disclosure, I was terrified of roller coasters,” she said.
Not anymore.
Today, Liller, a writer for News Plus Notes, a blog about the amusement park industry she shares with three other writers, considers roller coasters one of an amusement park’s greatest treasures, particularly ones like the historical Blue Streak at Conneaut Lake Park. That is why Liller is among those doing their part to help bring the Blue Streak back to life for the 2010 season.
“Restoring the Blue Streak is absolutely essential to the survival of this park,” she said. “Historically speaking, roller coasters have always been ‘king of the midway.’ They are the headlining attractions, and they draw the largest crowds.
“Conneaut Lake is blessed to have a classic, one-of-a-kind wooden roller coaster that even runs vintage trains. That’s tough to find these days.”
Restoring the 72-year-old Blue Streak is the next step for the Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park, who with the help of Park Restorations LLC, Lisko & Sons Amusements and the community, are continuing their efforts to bring the 118-year-old park back to its glory days.
The Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park are seeking donations to help put the Blue Streak back in operation this summer for the first time since the 2006 season. Jack Moyers, chairman of the Trustees, said $125,000 is needed to not only make repairs, but to get the Blue Streak in a position where the $65,000- to $85,000-a-year maintenance fees previously required of the Blue Streak would no longer be needed.
“This time, we’re trying to do it right,” Moyers said. “We’re trying to get it so it is better than how we found it.”
Moyers is hopeful repairs to the Blue Streak will be made before Coaster Con XXXIII, the American Coaster Enthusiasts’ annual convention, makes a stop at Conneaut Lake Park on June 20.
The Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park have done several other fundraisers like this over the past couple of years, like the Brick by Brick campaign to help get the Bessemer Railway System back up and running, and the Board by Board campaign to help repair the dilapidated board walk. Every time, people have come through. And already it’s been the same story for the Blue Streak.
Moyers said donations and/or requests for more information are coming from all over the country. In fact, he said the Trustees are considering putting a map on the website that will document where the donations, which Moyers said will be put in an “ear-marked” escrow account, are coming from.
“This is important,” Moyers said. “We were able to get the park open last year and had a great showing. We were very appreciative of the patrons who came out. The Blue Streak is certainly one key element of Conneaut Lake Park and we would like to bring that back for everyone. We’ve put an emphasis on that.”
It’s, again, one of the many things being done to put the park back on the map. All of those efforts have gone noticed.
Liller made her first and only visit to Conneaut Lake Park last season. She said she knew the park was in a “rebuilding” phase and that the “headlining attraction” (also known as the Blue Streak) would not be in operation. But the history and tradition of the park was something she had to see and experience.
“I’ve become a real industry history buff over the past decade, and this park in particular has such a long and storied history,” she said. “Traditional parks like Conneaut Lake are a dying breed, and I couldn’t bear the thought of it closing before I had a chance to experience it.
“Now that park operations are in good hands, hopefully we can all stop worrying about whether Conneaut Lake will survive.”
Lisa Byers can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at lbyers@meadvilletribune.com.
Donations to the Blue Streak Restoration Fund can be made online at www.conneautlake.com/bluestreak.html or by check or money order to Conneaut Lake Park, 12382 Center St., Conneaut Lake, Pa. 16316.
To read Sabrina Liller’s blog entries about the Blue Streak fundraising efforts and her trip to Conneaut Lake Park, visit www.newsplusnotes.blogspot.com.
The American Coaster Enthusiasts was founded in 1978 as a nonprofit organization of nearly 7,000 members from all over the United States and more than a dozen other countries.
Each year in the third week of June, the ACE holds its annual convention known as Coaster Con. The event typically lasts six days. Riding roller coasters is only part of what goes on at the convention, there are also presentations, workshops, photo and video contests and much more. A banquet with a featured keynote speaker is also one of the highlights.
The convention takes place at a different location every year.
This year, on June 20, Coaster Con XXXIII will be in northwest Pennsylvania, where it will make stops at Kennywood Park and Idlewood Park in Pittsburgh, Waldameer in Erie and Conneaut Lake Park.
