Waldameer 125th Anniversary

GOERIE.COM | SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2021 | 1S

MARY ANN LAWRENCE/USA TODAY NETWORK; AND GETTY IMAGES

Waldameer Park’s fi nancial ride: ups, downs, pandemic COVID-19 led to toughest times; owner Paul Nelson credits hard work, vision for park’s survival Ed Palattella Erie Times-News USA TODAY NETWORK

Paul Nelson had no need to pause and pick through his memory when asked to name the worst times Waldameer Park & Water World has experienced in the 64 years that he has run the Erie County amusement mecca.

The pandemic year of 2020, “without any doubt,” was when Waldameer plunged to its all-time fi nancial nadir, said the 87-year-old Nelson, who started out as general manager of Waldameer at 23 and went on to own the place.

He quickly added, “this is the second-most diffi cult year,” referring to

2021.

Nelson was interviewed in mid-April, a month before the park, with more than 100 rides and attractions, was to open for its 125th year.

The COVID-19 outbreak, and the crowd limits and other state-ordered regulations it prompted, had so damaged Waldameer that Nelson was already predicting another dismal season even before the fi rst visitor of 2021 had ridden the Ravine Flyer II, fl oated down the Endless River or chewed on an Elephant Ear fried dough treat.

Waldameer’s attendance dropped by 77% in 2021, largely due to capacity See FINANCIAL, Page 7S

Paul Nelson, owner of Waldameer Park & Water World in Millcreek Township, on July 22 shows the fenced-in area to contain the riders he anticipated would be lined up for the new Rally Racer attraction. Attendance at the park was down in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS FILE

2S | SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2021 | ERIE TIMES-NEWS

CELEBRATING 125 YEARS OF

WA L DA M E E R PA R K

Rainbow Gardens hosts renowned musicians through the years John Chacona Special to Erie Times-News USA TODAY NETWORK

“The dance was a most successful one from all standpoints” gushed the Erie Dispatch of Sept. 8, 1932. “Alpha Gamma Sigma dance held Tuesday evening . . . with Isham Jones . . . was attended by 1,500 dancers.”

The days when 1,500 people gathered for dancing – or anything else – seem like a distant memory, and who was Isham Jones? But the place where this now unimaginable scene took place is still very much with us.

It’s Rainbow Gardens, Waldameer Park’s storied ballroom, the familiar site of craft shows, DJ events and fundraisers. Yet for much of its 95-year-history, the Millcreek Township landmark has played host to internationally known musicians. This began early in the venue’s existence during the Prohibition era, when a vibrant social scene of dances, sponsored by long-forgotten social clubs and organizations, were among the highlights of Erie’s social life.

Guy Lombardo and his recently formed Royal Canadians played waltzes, tangos and fox trots, known as “the sweetest music this side of heaven,” at Rainbow Gardens in 1927 (their fi nal engagement there came 46 years later.)

The Duke Ellington Orchestra made Rainbow Gardens a stop on the band’s fi rst nationwide tour in 1931 and returned two years later.

So-called “sweet bands” predominated, but bands led by Black bandleaders such as Don Redman and Fletcher Henderson also energized Rainbow Gardens. The launch of the Swing Era in 1935 brought a fl ood of big names to Waldameer, including those of Fats Waller (1936) and Les Brown (1942) and

This is Rainbow Gardens at Waldameer Park. FILE PHOTO

Herman’s Hermits (Peter Noone, top, alias Herman the Chief Hermit, Derek Leckenby, left middle row, Keith Hopwood, Karl Green and Barry Whitwam, bottom right) are shown in Nashville in 1965. The band performed at Rainbow Gardens in 1965, headlining a show that also featured Reparata and the Delrons and the Hondells.

FRANK EMPSON/NASHVILLE TENNESSEAN

Stan Kenton. Kenton would become a frequent visitor.

Paul Nelson, the owner and CEO of Waldameer Park & Water World, started working at Rainbow Gardens at 11, just as the heyday of the swing bands was drawing to a close.

“When I was at Michigan State, I went to a dance that the Kenton band played for,” Nelson said. “I was trying to impress a girl and I told her that I knew Stan Kenton. I don’t think she believed me, but when we near the stage, Kenton called out to me, ‘Hey, Torg,’ my nick-

Erie Dispatch newspaper copy and ticket from Duke Ellington’s performance at Waldameer Park in 1931. CONTRIBUTED BY JOHN CHACONA

name. I was surprised that he would remember a kid, but he did.”

Kenton’s band played Rainbow Gardens often from the 1950s through the 1970s and people still danced, but as popular music changed in the 1960s, so

did the dances and the music played for them.

Package tours of national acts stopped at Rainbow Gardens. Jay Scalise, a musician and business owner who grew up a short walk from Waldameer, remembers one.

“It was 1965 and the lineup was Reparata and the Delrons, the Hondells and Herman’s Hermits, who were close in popularity to the Beatles in 1965 and were the headliners,” Scalise said. “Each band might have done two or three songs. My friend told me that Peter Noone (Herman) stayed at Nather’s Grove which is now Stephany’s Grove.”

Many of these shows were sponsored by radio stations and in the mid-1960s, Bob Bach, who had the afternoon shift on WJET-AM/1400 as Johnny Holiday was the MC for a concert by the Lovin’ Spoonful, who were touring to support their hit single “Do You Believe in Magic” in 1965.

“I’ll never forget that night,” Bach said. “I remember wearing a loud madras jacket to introduce them. There was a lighting package, which was unusual, and when (singer) John Sebastian came onstage, he said ‘My, my! It seems very psychedelic tonight.’”

As the 1970s dawned, the touring rock concert scene shifted to college campuses and larger venues, such as the Erie County Fieldhouse. “Captain” Dan Geary, whose on-air radio career dates to the 1960s, saw the beginning of the end in 1970.

“The Ides of March had a huge hit with ‘Vehicle’ and they were booked into Rainbow Gardens,” Geary said. “I wasn’t working at the show but I bought a ticket. It cost $2.50, but only 15 people showed up. Fifteen. Everybody had a See GARDENS, Page 4S

CONGRATULATIONS Thank you for serving the Erie community and supporting the mission of the Barber National Institute

Special appreciation to Paul Nelson, Steve Gorman, Brian Gorman and the Waldameer team!

Congratulations Waldameer on your 125th Anniversary!

Be sure to stop by Bello’s for all the goodies to make your park day great!

Subs

Snacks & Drinks

Deli Burgers & Hot Dogs Paul Nelson, 2016 Shillelagh Man of the Year

Brian Gorman and Steve Gorman

We are grateful for your commitment to our fundraising events, especially hosting the Barber Beast on the Bay finish line and the Beast Adapted Course for persons with disabilities. You are helping us make dreams come true!

2650 WEST 8TH ST. 833-7317

GOERIE.COM | SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2021 | 3S

CELEBRATING 125 YEARS OF

WA L DA M E E R PA R K

Theft ends original Waldameer carousel Valerie Myers Erie Times-News USA TODAY NETWORK

When carousel animals created by some of the country’s best carvers were stolen from Waldameer Park & Water World in the 1980s, it was the straw that broke the fi gural camel’s back.

Children had stepped on and off the animals’ tails and carved their initials in their necks.

Maintenance and repair costs were increasing, and the park couldn’t aff ord the steep price to insure the colorful works of art, park owner Paul Nelson said at the time.

Then one night, several of the best pieces went missing. The park ultimately got them back, but in 1988 Nelson decided to sell the carousel animals at auction and use the proceeds to build pavilions and enlarge the park’s new water attractions.

“I hated to sell it,” Nelson said.

The 1905 carousel was a work of art.

Its wooden horses, lion, goat and other imaginative steeds were created by some of the country’s best-known carvers for the T.M. Harton Co. of Pittsburgh, which originally owned and operated the ride and shared proceeds with the park.

There were “unsurpassed” horses done in military style by D.C. Muller & Brother of Philadelphia; “jumpers with Indian motifs and very animated expressions” by Stein & Goldstein of Brooklyn, New York; and “an elephant with a wooded howdah seat that may well be the best work ever created by Allan Herschell” Co. of North Tonawanda, New York, according to the 1988 auction catalog.

But not only riders and connoisseurs admired them.

The thief removed and made off with a number of the best animals.

“If you know how to do it, it’s easy.

You just twist them and lift them,” Nel-

Waldameer Park & Water World owner Paul Nelson, 87, remembers the 1980s sale of fi gures from the park’s original 1905 carousel. He looks through the auction catalog in the park’s main office on April 20. VALERIE MYERS/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

son, 87, said. “We were lucky to get them back. The guy who stole them told somebody about it, and before he had a chance to get rid of them, he got arrested.”

Vintage carousel animals were popular with thieves.

“It was like keeping your most valuable antiques on the front porch. All thieves had to do is back up with their truck and load it up,” Nelson said in a 1990 interview with the Allentown Morning Call.

For Nelson, the theft was the end of the revolving road for the ride.

“I hated to do it, but I started looking around for who could sell the carousel

for the most money,” Nelson recalled this spring.

The fi gures were included in a multimillion-dollar auction of carousel pieces from several amusement parks

by Guernsey’s of New York City in December 1988.

“The owner had called me two or three times wanting to sell my carousel,” Nelson said. “He came down and showed me how to get the most money out of the fi gures. We kept some exactly like they were and stripped some others down to ghosts, to the wood underneath, so that buyers would know that they were real and not all patched and puttied.”

The strategy worked.

More than a dozen of Waldameer’s carved steeds sold for upwards of $50,000. Almost all sold for thousands of dollars more than estimated.

The elephant, described in the auction catalog as maybe Allan Herschell Co.’s best, sold for $66,000, basically triple the $20,000 to $25,000 expectation.

The elephant and other elaborate animals from the carousel’s outer ring sold for the most money, and for good reason, Nelson said.

“They’re carved on both sides because you can see them from both sides as they go around,” he said. “The animals on the inner row are carved only on one side, on the outside, and so they aren’t as valuable.”

The auction at Queen Mary’s pier in New York attracted collectors from across the country, including several from Erie.

“A doctor who lived next door to me bought several of our horses,” Nelson said.

When it was over, the auction had brought in well over $1 million.

“I didn’t know I had to pay taxes on it,” Nelson said. “I had to go to the bank and borrow money.”

Nelson never looked back. He bought a new fi berglass carousel and continues to add rides, pavilions, gardens and other attractions at the lakeside park. His current plans include a new tribute to the bygone carousel.

“I’d like to have a carousel restaurant,” Nelson said.

He plans a special centerpiece for the restaurant, a favorite horse from the park’s original carousel that he kept from the auction.

“I’d bring the horse back to the park,” he said.

Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@timesnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @ETNmyers.

Congratulations on 125 years!

It’s partners like you that make the ride enjoyable!

4S | SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2021 | ERIE TIMES-NEWS

CELEBRATING 125 YEARS OF

WA L DA M E E R PA R K

Timeline

of Waldameer Park & Water World rides Dana Massing

Erie Times-News | USA TODAY NETWORK

While there have been Dodgems at Waldameer Park for more than a century, the current ride isn’t really that old. h The Dodgems, or bumper cars, date back to 1920 but a new building went up in 1973 with new cars, according to information from Steve Gorman, Waldameer’s president. All new cars were added again in 1997. h The original Ravine Flyer opened in 1922 but was dismantled after a man accidentally fell to his death from it in 1938. The Ravine Flyer 3 family coaster debuted in 2000. The much anticipated and celebrated Ravine Flyer II wooden coaster began carrying riders over Peninsula Drive in 2008. h The park’s old carousel, with its hand-carved wooden figures, went on the auction block in the 1980s, providing about $1 million that owner Paul Nelson invested back into the park and its then-new Water World.

Here’s a look back at when some of the park’s current rides opened:

1950s

1951 – Comet roller coaster

1960s

circa 1961 - Pony Cart (Kiddieland) 1964 - Scrambler 1969 - L. Ruth Express (train)

Comet roller coaster. ERIE TIMES-NEWS FILE

1970s

1970 - Whacky Shack 1972 - Pirate’s Cove 1973 - Paratrooper 1977 - Spider 1978 - Sky Ride

Waldameer’s carousel is shown in the 1980s.

More than a dozen of Waldameer’s carved steeds sold for upwards of $50,000 at a multimillion-dollar auction of carousel pieces from several amusement parks by Guernsey’s of New York City in December 1988.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

1980s

1986 - Water World 1988 - Endless River (Water World)

Paul Nelson, owner of Waldameer Park & Water World, is shown at the park’s iconic ride, the Whacky Shack on April 9. The dark ride debuted at the park on May 24, 1970.

JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

1990s

1990 - Bermuda Triangle (Water World) 1992 - Sea Dragon 1994 - Ferris Wheel 1995 - Wipeout 1996 - Thunder River 1999 - Ali Baba, Frog Hopper, Big Rigs

Water World opened in 1986 and the Battle of Lake Erie attraction opened in 2017. JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

2000s

2000 - Ravine Flyer 3 2004 - Steel Dragon 2007 - XScream 2008 - Ravine Flyer II 2009 - Mega Vortex 2012 - Happy Swing

The fi rst hill of the Ravine Flyer II roller coaster is shown in 2008.

2010s This May 2, 2009, fi le photo shows some of the fi rst riders to enjoy the Mega Vortex.

ERIE TIMES-NEWS FILE

SOURCES: PARK HISTORY AT WALDAMEER.COM, STEVE GORMAN, ERIE TIMES-NEWS ARCHIVES CONTACT DANA MASSING AT DMASSING@TIMESNEWS.COM.

2011 - Flying Swings, S.S. Wally, Wendy’s Tea Party 2013 - Music Express 2015 - Giant Wave Pool (Water World) 2016 - Kidz Zone (Water World) 2017 - Battle of Lake Erie (Water World) 2018 - Balloon Race, Cannon Bowl (Water World) 2019 - Chaos, Heated Relaxing Pool (Water World)

ERIE TIMES-NEWS FILE

2020s

2020 - Whirllwind, Rally Racer (Water World)

FOLLOW HER ON TWITTER

Rally Racer opened in 2020.

@ETNMASSING.

JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS FILE

Gardens Continued from Page 2S

front-row seat.”

The touring acts might have gone elsewhere, but local rock bands continued to play Rainbow Gardens into the new century. One of them was Friction, which, according to member Marty Coe, played Rainbow Gardens more than 30 times between 1978 and a reunion concert in 2008.

“Most of the times I walked into Rainbow Gardens, it was as a working entertainer,” Coe said in an email. “Thousands of working entertainers walked through the doors before me and I never forgot that as I stepped onstage. Rainbow Gardens always brought out the

Frank Sinatra, left, chats with orchestra leader Guy Lombardo in 1946. Lombardo and his Royal Canadians played at Rainbow Gardens in 1927. AP

pride of being a performer. I think the fans in attendance could sense this. You felt big.”

As for Isham Jones, from that 1932 dance, he was a bandleader and composer who collaborated on hits including “It Had to Be You” before his death in 1956, according to the Songwriters Hall of Fame website.

Some Erieites might remember the boards on Rainbow Gardens’ walls that were fi lled with the signatures of performers who played the room. Nelson said they were auctioned for charity years ago.

Many of the names have dissolved into obscurity, but the music and the memories of fi rst dates, fi rst kisses, fi rst public performances, fi rst concert experiences – all of it –lives on.

GOERIE.COM | SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2021 | 5S

CELEBRATING 125 YEARS OF

WA L DA M E E R PA R K

Whacky Shack still thrills Waldameer visitors Jennie Geisler Erie Times-News USA TODAY NETWORK

To daredevil, death-defying roller coaster enthusiasts, the Whacky Shack, Waldameer Park’s iconic dark ride, might not hold much attraction.

“It’s unique,” said park owner Paul Nelson, 87, hopping into a car of the 51year-old ride, originally created by Bill Tracy, who fi rst designed fl oats for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Nelson met him in the late 1960s, just when Tracy was starting to build park rides.

“We hit it right off ,” Nelson said. “I asked him to build this.”

Roller coaster lovers aside, The Whacky Shack, which opened in 1970, has become world-famous among “dark ride” enthusiasts.

“It’s scary, but not REALLY scary,” Nelson said. “It’s great for families.”

There’s plenty to look at once you bump past those swinging doors marked with fl uorescent green tape boxes and lit black light: Swinging skeletons, moving spider legs with human skulls as bodies. And when the car is plunged into darkness, no matter how many times you’ve been through it, those 51-year-old tricks still cause a little adrenaline shot or two.

“There’s a lot of tricks for the size of the building,” Nelson said with pride, before a screeching metallic sound — accompanied by a blinding light — shattered conversation. And then it was onto the shark-Infested water; animated, human-sized rats; and out for a brief dip in the tracks in daylight before re-entering for the dark ride fi nale.

“There used to be many Whacky Shacks around the country, but this is the last one,” Nelson said.

Tracy built many rides like it for amusement parks nationwide, according to the website of a group dedicated to Tracy and his work, found at bit.ly/TracyRides. Incidentally, Tracy

The Whacky Shack debuted at Waldameer Park & Water World in Millcreek Township on May 24, 1970.

JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

also built Pirate’s Cove, the walkthrough attraction set near the Whacky Shack at Waldameer.

The website lists eight remaining Tracy attractions, including the two at Waldameer, all built between 1964 and 1974, the year he died at 58. Waldameer’s Whacky Shack has been voted into the top 10 dark rides by members of Dark Attraction & Funhouse Enthusiasts seven times, including No. 1 in 2001.

It was also written up favorably at

bit.ly/DarkRides, another website for dark ride lovers.

Incidentally, as you enter the Whacky Shack, above the door frame, are a collection of fi gurines, which in context can bring to mind large insects that might fall in your lap on your way under. But never fear: Most have been there since the original caretaker of Whacky Shack, Perry Dunkins, put them there during the ride’s construction.

They are just toys he found around the park, forgotten or dropped by children running to the next ride — kids who might now bring their grandchildren for their fi rst ride on the one and only Whacky Shack at Waldameer Park during its 125th anniversary this summer.

Contact Jennie Geisler at jgeisler@timesnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @ETNgeisler.

“Since 1994”

Amish Built

Same as

Cash

*With approved credit

“Since 1994”

814-725-2727

RENT TO OWN NO CREDIT CHECK

5250 Kuhl Road I-90 and Bayfront Exit 32

www.meadowlarkstructures.com

adno=432700

12 Mos.

*

6S | SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2021 | ERIE TIMES-NEWS

CELEBRATING 125 YEARS OF

WA L DA M E E R PA R K

How Water World has helped park’s cash fl ow Not ‘lying down’

Ed Palattella Erie Times-News USA TODAY NETWORK

The ride stands like a monument to Waldameer Park & Water World’s survival, a huge structure visible outside the window of Waldameer owner Paul Nelson’s offi ce.

The mammoth attraction is called, appropriately, the Giant Slides, and it is a big reason that Waldameer remains in business after 125 years.

Waldameer opened the 60-foot-high Giant Slides in 1986. It was the fi rst ride in Water World, the group of attractions that instantly gave Waldameer a longer name — and a much longer lifespan.

When asked, in mid-April, if Waldameer would have survived without the creation and expansion of the water park, Nelson paused and said, with a degree of hesitation, “It probably would have.”

Nelson was more direct in an interview in 2019.

He recounted how Waldameer, which he took over in 1965, had grown stale in the 1960s and 1970s and into the 1980s, with little new investment and growth.

In the mid-1980s, Nelson, now 87, made the bold move of selling the wooden horses on Waldameer’s historic carousel, raising $1 million that he poured back in the park, including the construction of the Giant Slides.

Water World was born.

“If I hadn’t done that, the park would never have grown,” Nelson said in 2019.

Water World has helped Waldameer grow, and it has helped keep the cash fl owing. When Nelson describes Water World — which has expanded well beyond the 1986 footprint, with multiple slides and other features — he uses terms associated more with food than water. He describes Water World like the topping of a dessert.

“It’s like the frosting on the cake,” Nelson said in April.

Nelson means that the Water Park is the special treat atop the cake that is Waldameer. As frosting makes a cake

Waldameer Park & Water World’s Battle of Lake Erie water playground is shown July 3 during the opening day of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season at the Millcreek Township amusement park. JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS FILE

more attractive, and makes you want to eat more cake, Water World sweetens the experience of Waldameer and, in the park’s view, makes visitors want to stay longer — and spend more money.

“If they stay in the water park for several hours, and then they come to the amusement park, you are extending their stay,” said Steve Gorman, Waldameer’s president and Nelson’s son-inlaw.

Once patrons leave Water World and head into the amusement park, Gorman said, they are likely to buy food and souvenirs and spend money to ride Waldameer’s attractions. At the same time, he said, Water World is another reason for families to visit Waldameer.

‘A nice balance’ Amusement parks and water parks often make an ideal match because of the synergy they can create, said John

Gerner, managing director of Leisure Business Advisors LLC, a consulting fi rm in Richmond, Virgina.

“Water parks have been very important to traditional amusement parks because these add complementary activities that often extend overall length of stay,” Gerner said in an email. “Combined, you have a nice balance of wet versus dry activities, active versus passive, and relaxing versus thrilling.

“Often, it’s made sense to add the water play activities as an area within the amusement park. Other times, the best approach has been a second gate,” Gerner said.

“Whenever I conduct a feasibility study for a new theme park, I typically recommend one of these two approaches to the developer. Water activities are both popular and cost-eff ective compared to other possible activities that could be off ered to guests, so these are a good part of a profi table mix.”

Once Water World went up, Nelson focused on it and Waldameer together.

Waldameer got an upgrade. So did Water World. Water World got a new ride.

So did Waldameer.

Nelson likes to plan for an addition to Water World one year and an addition to Waldameer the next, and vice versa.

Following construction of the water park, Nelson added rides including the Sea Dragon in 1992, the 100-foot-tall Ferris wheel in 1994, the Thunder River log fl ume in 1996, the Steel Dragon spinning coaster in 2004 and, in 2008, the celebrated Ravine Flyer II wooden coaster that carries riders over Peninsula Drive.

To expand Water World, Waldameer in 2012 bought property along West Eighth Street and Peninsula Drive, including the former Inn at Presque Isle, now demolished. The big buy made room for parking and for more water rides. The $9 million Giant Wave Pool arrived in 2015 and the $2.5 million Battle of Lake Erie water playground in 2017.

The Giant Wave Pool provided an example of how Water World can bring in traffi c. After it opened, Gorman said in 2016, sales of Waldameer’s season passes rose 15%. He attributed much of the increase to the wave pool, which can hold as many as 1,000 bathers. The large number of people in the wave pool alleviated crowding in other areas of the park, particularly on hot days.

“Some people call a wave pool a people eater,” Gorman said in 2016. “The wave pool did what I was hoping for. It spread people out in (other parts of the water park), because we were overcrowded on busy days. Traffi c fl ow was better. It was a new attraction that drew people in as well.”

Three years later, in 2019, Water World welcomed a new heated relaxation pool. And over the next 10 years, Nelson said in 2019, the water park See FLOW, Page 8S

Be sure these books are part of your Erie Collection If you missed any of these books in past this is your chance to purchase them today.

Keep them for yourself or give as a gift.

Reflections of Presque Isle: A Visual Journey ORIGINALLY

44

$

N OW

10

$

• 144 full-color pages of images of beautiful Presque Isle State Park • Images of park-goers, events, nature and education at the park

Erie Memories Volume II: The Early Years

• A collaboration between Historical Society’s, Erie Times-News and the community • Book Focuses on the early years that shaped Erie (1800s -1938)

ORIGINALLY

29

$

N OW

10

$

Erie Reflections: Volume Two 29

$

N OW

10

$

Purchase your books today

store.goerie.com

adno=432939

ORIGINALLY

• A collaboration of local business, non-profits and the Erie community • Book focuses on late 1800’s through the 1960’s

GOERIE.COM | SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2021 | 7S

CELEBRATING 125 YEARS OF

WA L DA M E E R PA R K

Financial Continued from Page 1S

rules and an abbreviated season. Waldameer did not open until July 3. The loss of income in May and June 2020 was compounded by management’s inability to open by the end of its fi scal year that ended in April 2020.

As a result, the park ended up paying taxes on a $5 million investment that could otherwise have been written off as an expense, Nelson said. He said the park will end up achieving the write-off , though not as soon as originally expected.

The decline in revenue in 2020 also interrupted Waldameer’s long-established plan of investing in at least one new ride at the amusement park each season and at least one new ride in Water World the next, and vice versa.

“Back and forth,” Nelson said.

As Nelson said in summarizing Waldameer’s philosophy in a 2019 interview with the Erie Times-News: “We plan long range. We put something big in every year. That keeps us in the public’s eye.”

Continued challenges In 2019, Nelson was speaking prepandemic, and Waldameer had just fi nished a 10-year expansion plan. He aimed to begin another plan, with more than $50 million in improvements expected to take place over the next decade at the park, in Millcreek Township near the entrance to Presque Isle State Park.

The 2019 season marked the arrival of Chaos, a spinning swinging thrill ride that is the fi rst at Waldameer to take riders upside down. It cost more than $1 million to complete in a spot next to the park’s train station. Also new to the

Melissa Cleve, of Erie, and daughter Lilly Cleve, 6, ride the Mega Vortex on July 22 at Waldameer Park & Water World in Millcreek Township. Attendance at the park was down due to COVID-19, and visitors had to wear masks.

JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS FILE

Ali Baba ride.

Nelson would like to introduce new rides in 2022 — and he has plenty of plans, as always — but he is holding off on a decision.

Faced with the prospect of extended economic turmoil, he said he is even foregoing a visit to an annual amusement park convention in Orlando, Florida, where he and members of his family typically get new ideas for attractions at Waldameer. Nelson also did not go to the convention in 2020.

“We know we are going to make investments,” Nelson said, referring to the $2 million in upgrades, “but we are not going to make that type of investment.”

The state of the pandemic, and any changes at the state level on social distancing rules, will drive how much Waldameer spends to expand in the near future, Nelson said.

“First, we are looking at getting through this year, and having enough See FINANCIAL, Page 8S

park in 2019 was a $500,000 heated relaxation pool near the wave pool.

In 2020, Waldameer introduced one new ride, and so did Water World. The former got the Whirlwind, a spinning coaster, and the latter the Rally Racer, a six-lane water slide. Both rides are expected to be new to many visitors in 2021 because of Waldameer’s limited capacity in 2020, Nelson said.

Though no brand-new rides will greet patrons this season, the park will still spend about $2 million in upgrades, Nelson said. The money will go mainly to developing gardens and other plantings, updating the arcade so 85% of the games are new, and installing a new food station, called Carousel Delight, next to the merry-go-round. Also part of the investment is a new tent that covers the outdoor dining area just north of the

Congratulations Waldameer Park on 125 years of serving the Erie Community!

Thank you for your support and we look forward to handling your business needs for the next 125 years.

WEST END HARDWARE & INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY

Wholesale Fastener Outlet 1912 Liberty Street | Erie, PA 16502 | 814-452-2342 | Fax: 814-461-1289 FASTENERS | POWER TOOLS | DRILL BITS

EP-432533

FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT GROUP CONGRATULATES WALDAMEER PARK & WATER WORLD ON 125 YEARS OF FAMILY FUN!

We are proud to be long time partners in helping to create smiles and memories at this classic, Pennsylvania attraction.

HERE’S TO THE

NEXT 125!

FEGLLC.COM

8S | SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2021 | ERIE TIMES-NEWS

CELEBRATING 125 YEARS OF

WA L DA M E E R PA R K

Financial Continued from Page 7S

money to do some new things for next year,” he said. “The only thing that may give us trouble is our governor.”

Change in hours At the start of this season, Waldameer will save money by closing the entire park on Wednesdays and by closing the amusement park one hour earlier, at 9 p.m. instead of 10 p.m., on other days.

Water World’s hours will not change, and Waldameer will resume normal hours depending on the pandemic, according to Nelson and Waldameer’s president, Steve Gorman, who is Nelson’s son-in-law.

“We could decide mid-summer that, ‘Oh, we could open Wednesdays. We are doing OK,’” Gorman said.

But he and Nelson said the reduction in hours is a recommendation from Waldameer’s bank, which they said asked the park to cut expenses by 20% in 2021 to save money and to stay viable. Other amusement parks nationwide are taking a similar approach, said John Gerner, managing director of Leisure Business Advisors LLC, a consulting fi rm based in Richmond, Virginia.

“The typical goal during the pandemic has been to minimize costs yet keep the park maintained so that it can be fully reopened when the time is right to do that,” Gerner said in an email. “Based on vaccination rates, there seems to be a light now at the end of this tunnel.

Those parks that have made it this far are likely to do all they can now to make it to the ‘after times.’”

Flow Continued from Page 6S

would change further.

Following the plan, Nelson soon replaced two of Water World’s oldest features — the two speed slides visible

Waldameer Park & Water World’s president, Steve Gorman, is shown July 3, the opening day of Waldameer’s truncated 2020 season. New rules were in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

JACK HANRAHAN/ERIE TIMES-NEWS FILE

Free admission

coming in and just riding a few rides or buying an ice cream, but we also have that good will, too, and the trust and the community-ownership type feel that people have with our park.”

This season, Nelson said, the park intends to return to “our normal practice of letting people walk into the park.”

Nelson said he is committed to letting as many people as possible use the park, a pledge that he said means allowing visitors to get into the park for free and spend as little or as much as they want.

Waldameer also lets visitors bring in their own food for picnics.

“I want the poorest family to be able to use my park,” Nelson said. He said he wants children especially to have the advantage of walking into Waldameer for free, just like anyone else.

When they are at Waldameer, Nelson said, “The kids don’t know they are poor. That’s how I like it.”

Though Waldameer could use more revenue, Nelson said he has no plans to charge visitors for admission or charge for parking. Visitors to Waldameer can walk in for free and buy nothing or lots of things, such as ride tickets and food, while strolling the 60-acre park.

Waldameer did not allow walk-ins during the 2020 season, instead requiring visitors to have tickets to avoid overcrowding. The change drove down attendance and temporarily suspended a practice that Gorman and Nelson said makes the park so endearing to Erie and to vacationers.

“I think it is very important, because I will tell you what happens: A lot of grandparents with little kids don’t want to ride, or they will ride a couple rides,” Nelson said of free admission.

Said Gorman: “It is huge for us. Last summer, when we couldn’t do that, our attendance was really low. We have some income from the people who are

Nelson still seems like he is a big kid.

As he pushes 90, he still roams Waldameer daily, pacing the grounds with a walkie-talkie or tooling around in a golf cart. He is grinning or laughing much of the time, but always moving. He is like a cross between Willy Wonka and Peter Pan — a larger-than-life character eternally dedicated to his realm of fun.

Nelson grew up at Waldameer, and never left.

He began working there at age 11 in 1945 for then-owner and family friend Alex Moeller, who went on to adopt Nelson and promise him the park. Nelson went from washing dishes to cleaning bathrooms and preparing picnics. He worked his way up to general manager and then took over the park when

from Peninsula Drive. A colorful sixlane racer slide, the $3 million Rally Racer, opened on that spot in 2020, during the pandemic.

Among the other planned changes, Nelson said, is the expansion of the Endless River by 50 percent and creation of an enormous fi ve-person raft ride, complete with a tunnel and tower

visible from West Eighth Street. During a tour of the park in April, Nelson told the Erie Times-News that the raft ride has been designed, with installation planned as soon as Waldameer’s fi nances rebound enough to aff ord it.

“We aren’t just lying down,” Nelson said.

At his Waldameer Park & Water

‘I have visions’

Proud to call Erie home today. And every day.

Congratulations to Waldameer Park.

Bringing smiles to our community for 125 years.

PNC is proud to support the Erie community and the businesses that make this a great place to live. pnc.com ©2021 The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. All rights reserved. PNC Bank, National Association. Member FDIC CON PDF 0618-0106

Moeller died in 1965.

Waldameer kept going in the 1960s and 1970s and into the mid-1980s, but Nelson said he felt the park had stalled.

In an event that has become part of Erie lore, in the mid-1980s Nelson sold the wooden horses and other animals on Waldameer’s historic carousel. The move raised $1 million, which Nelson invested in the park and used to help open Water World in 1986.

“If I hadn’t done that, the park would never have grown,” Nelson said in the 2019 interview.

In the interview in April, Nelson said he is committed to doing what is best for his customers, including the children.

“I don’t do what I want to do,” he said.

“I do what the customer wants me to do.”

He said he still enjoys himself.

“What I tell my kids: Don’t work for money. Work for something you like to do,” Nelson said. “Usually, you will be a success if you are doing something that you like. But if you are looking for the bottom line, you’re not going to be a success.”

Gorman, Waldameer’s president, credited “hands-on owners” and “attention to detail” for keeping Waldameer in business all these years — the lean years of the pandemic included.

Nelson agreed and said Waldameer has benefi ted from “a very good relationship with the bank.”

Perseverance, Nelson said, has also paid off . He said he never feared that Waldameer Park & Water World would fail.

“Because I’m bullheaded,” Nelson said with a laugh. “I have visions.”

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com.

Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.

World, Nelson is following a strategy that went into place along with the Giant Slides, in 1986.

He wants his visitors to eat cake — and enjoy plenty of frosting.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com.

Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.

GOERIE.COM | SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2021 | 9S

FORGING A PARTNERSHIP WITH THE PRIVATE SECTOR & THE PA. DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES AT THE TOM RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER (TREC) AND PRESQUE ISLE STATE PARK TO ENHANCE EDUCATION, RESEARCH, AND THE VISITOR EXPERIENCE WE HAVE PROVIDED OVER $524,000 IN GRANTS OVER 13 YEARS TO OUR ENVIRONMENTAL PARTNERS, INCLUDING: $209,000 TO PRESQUE ISLE STATE PARK AND THE TOM RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER. $131,000 THROUGH IU-5 FOR K-12 STUDENTS IN 17 SCHOOL DISTRICTS FOR “THE TREC EXPERIENCE” AT TREC AND PRESQUE ISLE STATE PARK; A STEAM-FOCUSED EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE WITH PRESQUE ISLE STATE PARK COMPLEX EDUCATORS. $32,000 TO THE PURPLE MARTIN CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION FOR GEOLOCATOR AND GPS DATA-LOGGERS, BANDING PROJECT, AND NEST-CAM LOCATED AT TREC. ADDITIONAL FUNDING TO THE PRESQUE ISLE AUDUBON SOCIETY, ERIE BIRD OBSERVATORY, PA. SEA GRANT AND THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM AT TREC. PLEASE CONSIDER CONTRIBUTING TO THE TOM RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER FOUNDATION AS WE BEGIN THE PROCESS WITH PA. DCNR & THE PRESQUE ISLE STATE PARK COMPLEX ON THE REDESIGN OF OUR EXHIBITS USING EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES; LEADING TO MEANINGFUL STUDENT AND VISITOR EXPERIENCES FOR THE FUTURE. THE TREC FOUNDATION – www.trecf.org 301 PENINSULA DR., STE. 1, ERIE, PA. 16505

CONGRATULATIONS TO WALDAMEER PARK, THE PAUL NELSON AND GORMAN FAMILIES ON YOUR 125TH ANNIVERSARY. WE LOVE HAVING YOU AS OUR NEIGHBORS!

INSIDE THE TOM RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER

SOUVENIRS PI APPAREL BOOKS TOYS LOCAL GOODS BEACH GEAR JEWELRY AND MORE!

FOR HOURS & INFORMATION VISIT TRECF.ORG

10S | SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2021 | ERIE TIMES-NEWS

THANK YOU ERIE, PA FOR 125 WONDERFUL YEARS!

EP-431127