Blue Streak is up and running, ready for big weekend

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September 2, 2010

By Ryan Smith Meadville Tribune The Meadville Tribune Thu Sep 02, 2010, 11:56 PM EDT

CONNEAUT LAKE — “It was great. What else can I say?,” Dave Hahner said Thursday, just moments after taking his second ride on the Blue Streak.

That’s right: For the first time since 2006, Conneaut Lake Park’s historic roller coaster is back up and running, once again ready, as Jack Moyers, chairman of the board of Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park, put it, “to bring thrills and chills to children of all ages.”

Pittsburgh resident and American Coasters Enthusiasts historian Hahner, along with about 10 other ACE members and a group of local park supporters and media members (this lucky reporter included) were the first to ride the newly restored, 72-year-old Blue Streak on Thursday before it was officially opened to park-goers.

The Blue Streak’s re-opening is “a great milestone,” said Moyers, who recently said park officials were confident it would be operational by Labor Day weekend.

Being one of only two Ed Vettel-designed coasters still standing and the sixth-oldest wooden coaster in Pennsylvania, the Blue Streak “hearkens back to the end of the golden age of coasters in America,” said Hahner, who first rode the coaster around 1972. “I love not only the thrill of the ride, but the nostalgic feeling of childhood as well. ... They just don’t make ’em like this anymore. It’s as old-style a roller coaster as you can get.”

And it’s those kinds of votes of confidence — quite literally — opening the way for that old-style coaster to be on track for a viable future.

While few new details were available Thursday, it appears the Blue Streak roller coaster has received enough votes to win a $50,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project, having still been in the competition’s No. 1 spot when voting for the month ended at midnight Tuesday. If it receives the grant following an upcoming review process, the park will use the funds to continue restoring and maintaining the roller coaster.

Moyers said rides on the Blue Streak are now available with a $3 add-on to the park’s regular admission price. All of that extra money will go directly back into ongoing restorations to and maintenance of the roller coaster, he said.

Excluding the anticipated Pepsi Refresh grant, Moyers said a total of $20,293 has been raised for the Blue Streak efforts through fundraising events and community donations, and fundraising efforts are continuing. “We still need money. ... It’s going to be an ongoing project” if it’s to be successful, he said.

As it stands, the Blue Streak “looks good, and I hope it feels good,” said Lenny Adams of Structural Technologies Inc., the father-and-son team that’s been working to restore the coaster. “We’ll find out when we start sending paying customers out” on it. “They’ll tell us one way or the other.”

“Nostalgic” and “thrilling” were two of the words Hahner said came to mind after his rides Thursday.

“It’s a little rough around the edges,” he said, “but definitely a whole lot of fun to be on.”

So much fun, he added, that “I call today Christmas for ACE members.”

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

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Blue Streak is up and running, ready for big weekend

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