02/21/06 — CONNEAUT LAKE — Conneaut Lake Park is hoping to pave the way — literally — to get one of its most noted family attractions back on track. And two park officials said Monday they’ll be laying down the first bricks.
Park General Manager George Deshner announced the kickoff of a buy-a-brick campaign to raise the roughly $56,000 needed to get the park’s miniature Bessemer-Lake Erie train chugging along again at a packed-house public meeting Monday.
He said $500 of his next paycheck from the park will be used to buy five of the bricks, and court-appointed park overseer LeRoy Stearns pledged a $600 donation to the effort. The bricks, inscribed with families’ or individuals’ names, will be sold for $100 each and installed as a paved walkway to the train’s boarding station.
There are “a tremendous amount” of local families with historical ties to the railroading industry, said Deshner, adding the brick-selling campaign could also serve as a way to recognize those families.
The train, the ride Deshner said “we get the most requests about,” was inoperable last year.
A local company has volunteered to repair its wheels and axles, and funds from the brick sale will purchase needed railroad ties, rails and spurs and pay for work on the tunnel that the train travels through, he said.
Two other popular rides, the Tempest and the classic Tumble Bug, will be open for the park’s 2006 season, according to Deshner.
Other plans for this season include adding six more bumper cars to the Dodge ‘Em, taking the total to 16; relocating rides now on the lakefront to the other end of the midway with the park’s other rides; reopening Camperland and the park’s midway games and gift shop; and charging for parking at three of the park’s four lots as a way to generate more revenue for ride repairs and other restoration efforts.
“Overall, we’re looking at really raising the standards of Conneaut Lake Park” in 2006, said Deshner. “If we keep bumping it up a notch ... (the park) can make it.”
And park officials said they’ll be working with the county Economic Progress Alliance to secure the park’s future beyond 2006.
Mark Turner of the alliance said Monday he’s helping the park go after a $175,000 grant from the state First Industries program to develop a master plan for the future of the park and find ways to secure more investments.
With 13 different businesses operating at the historic park, “we definitely have a diamond in the rough, if not many diamonds in the rough,” said Turner, who indicated state officials contacted him about the availability of state and federal grant funding.
“It’s in the public’s interest that Conneaut Lake Park remains to be (economically) viable,” he said. “Let’s demonstrate to Harrisburg and Washington that grants provided to this community will be well-invested.”
n More information: Call 382-5115 or visit www.conneautlakepark.com.
Ryan Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at rsmith@meadvilletribune.com
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