Meadville Tribune

Local News

April 6, 2006

Lt. Gov. Baker Knoll makes stop at Conneaut Lake Park

4/7/06 — CONNEAUT LAKE — As a child, Catherine Baker Knoll vacationed at Conneaut Lake Park with her family, traveling from McKees Rocks. “We came to relax,” she said.

She returned Thursday as the state lieutenant governor to tour it — the first time in more than seven decades that a high-ranking state official has been at the local amusement park on official business.

“I grew up here,” Knoll told a group of about 35 people who greeted her to take the more-than-90-minute tour.

“It’s not for us,” she said of the reason Conneaut Lake Park must be kept operating. “It’s for the kids who follow and their kids.”

Invited to visit by court-appointed overseer LeRoy Stearns, Knoll said, “This park has to stay,” praising the efforts of not only Stearns and general manager George Deshner, but all the volunteers for their dedication.

First stop was the Dreamland Ballroom, built in 1909 after a fire which destroyed most of the park’s midway in 1908. Climbing up the steps to the large ballroom, Knoll reminisced about dancing in the ballroom to music of the “Sinatra era. Do you all remember dancing here?” she asked. “Isn’t this amazing,” she said as she listened to the story of the ballroom and the dance floor, which is of a unique design. “You can dance the polka here and the floor won’t budge,” she said before going to the balcony for a view of Conneaut, Pennsylvania’s largest natural lake. “It’s beautiful,” she said, gazing across the midway to the lakefront.

She reminisced about dancing in the Crystal Ballroom of Hotel Conneaut and expressed amazement and appreciation to the volunteers after hearing how at least 119 hotel rooms have been renovated by volunteers at no cost to the park.

Traveling in a golf cart with Stearns, Knoll was shown the area where the Flynn house once stood; was told of plans for development and also shown several dilapidated buildings which must be torn down; and then stopped at the miniature track station.

And, who can go to Conneaut Lake Park without a ride on the merry-go-round? Although the music was missing as the organ is in storage, operators started the ride for the occasion.

Holding onto the front of a horse, Knoll smiled as the ride went in circles. She was joined by many on the tour and laughed as they reminisced about earlier rides at younger ages.

“The purpose of the park is to bring children,” she said, emphasizing the need to follow through with plans to keep it in operation.

The park continues to face financial problems and is $1.9 million in debt. Plans are to sell some lakefront property as the next step of development. The property is the last lakefront real estate available and funds from the sale will be used to help pay off the debt and continue operations.

In addition, the park has some deteriorating buildings which must be torn down, and some improvements need to be made to other buildings.

Although she brought no state money, nor made any promises of immediate financial assistance, she told of state grants available to help with such things as removing blighted areas like the dilapidated buildings.

During a luncheon, Knoll said she keeps tabs of the park’s progress through her friend Joe Prishak of Erie, who was a former member of the Board of Trustees.

“It’s the type of park with historic significance we need to keep,” she told those in attendance. “We can’t do it without you.”

Republican state Sen. Bob Robbins, whose 50th District includes all of Crawford County, joined Knoll for the tour and said he too will do what he can to help ensure the park’s continued operation. Robbins has assisted the park in the past with state grants, including one to improve the sewer system.

Deshner was pleased with Thursday’s tour, noting it was an opportunity to show what residents of northwestern Pennsylvania can do. “After a year of being down (when the park was closed), I’m confident Conneaut Lake Park can make a comeback and will help bring the economy back to Crawford County and to the lakeland area.”

Stearns said the tour was meant to be a way to acquaint the lieutenant governor with the park and what it has to offer and allow her to see what progress has been made.



Jane Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at jsmith@meadvilletribune.com

Text Only
Local News
  • SUN park.jpg Conneaut Lake Park roars into 120th season

    Conneaut Lake Park’s 120th season is officially under way with its in-keeping-with-tradition, four-day Memorial Day weekend opening, and the “crowds are coming in,” Jack Moyers said Saturday.

    May 27, 2012 1 Photo

  • Area communities ready to celebrate Memorial Day


    Editor’s note: The following Memorial Day events have been reported for publication in The Tribune. All events are Monday, except those in  Edinboro and Shermansville, which are planned for Sunday.

    May 26, 2012

  • Remembering Civil War Bucktails

    A glimpse into daily life of the Civil War era is easy to see in Crawford County.

    May 26, 2012

  • Area Memorial Day events

    The following Memorial Day events have been reported for publication in The Tribune. All events are on Monday, except the one at Edinboro that is planned for Sunday.

    May 25, 2012

  • Memorial Day parade Civil War soldiers highlight Meadville Memorial Day events

    A courageous Meadville man — wounded three times but remaining on a Civil War battlefield until he was too weak to continue — is being remembered this Memorial Day as the Meadville Area Memorial Day Committee continues its mission of observing the 150th anniversary of the War Between the States.

    May 25, 2012 1 Photo

  • Police: Locals admit to killing Ohio woman

    Two Cochranton women were arrested and jailed on homicide charges early Thursday after allegedly admitting they killed an Ohio woman and buried her body in a shallow grave near their residence recently.

    May 25, 2012

  • Lucy Kedzierski.jpg Reader 'Faces' are coming in

    Mom's car dash, Meadville, PA
    Lucy Kedzierski, 12, looks at the face every morning waiting for school bus!
    She took this with a cell phone.

    May 24, 2012 1 Photo

  • North Street Project sure to be 'very disruptive'

    With the preliminary traffic control plan for Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s North Street Project complete, Meadville City Manager Joe Chriest summed up the anticipated impact of the project, which is expected to span the entire 2013 construction season. “This is going to be very, very disruptive,” he said Wednesday.

    May 24, 2012

  • Boat.jpg Boat business booming in warm weather

    It’s been a booming business in boats this spring, according to some area boat dealers.

    May 24, 2012 1 Photo

  • City leaders not concerned after financial downgrade

    During the past five years, Moody’s Investors Service has assigned three different ratings — all within the range of “upper medium grade” to the City of Meadville’s bonds. In 2007, the city was given a rating of A3, the lowest of the trio. In 2010, the city’s bond rating was raised to A1, the highest ranking in the “upper medium” category. Monday, Moody’s gave the city’s $10,000,000 General Obligation Bonds, Series of 2012, which went on the market Monday, the middle rating of A2.

    May 23, 2012

Business Marquee
AP Video
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium 50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
Poll

If the presidential election were today, my vote would go to:

Barack Obama
Mitt Romney
I wouldn’t vote
     View Results
Hyperlocal Search
Premier Guide
Find a business

Walking Fingers
Maps, Menus, Store hours, Coupons, and more...
Premier Guide
Popular Searches
Powered by Local.com
Stocks