Welcome to Vacationland: Echoes of Ohio’s Nostalgic Destinations by Rocco
Welcome to Chippewa Lake Park
For One Last Ride
For years, the ruins of a place once filled with screaming laughter were hidden among the trees and weeds along the shores of Chippewa Lake just outside Medina, Ohio.
Once upon a time, I gained permission to access, explore, and film it on one of the coldest days in Northeast Ohio’s history. My retired father volunteered to carry the tripod. I think he just wanted to get out, no matter how cold it was. A county authority chaperoned us through the old turnstiles. And a local historian explained sites along the way, such as the concrete hill where a fire took the ballroom where the big bands like Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman played. It was ironic that the only thing left here, besides the concrete beneath our feet, was a fire hydrant. Go figure.
Until 2010, the debris of a rotting wooden roller coaster called The Big Dipper was still partially standing, visible among the rubble and vines before it was finally removed. I’m sure this was largely a decision to deter the growing number of urban explorers from trespassing without permission.
Still, various old rides reached up, rusted and broken, from the weeds forming a bit of a jungle, strangling the past. Yet it left a glimpse of the park’s heyday. It was all quite fascinating to rummage around. The Tumble Bug ride still looked salvageable. We followed the tracks of the kiddie train until they disappeared at the water’s edge, where the beachgoers used to bask in the summer sun, a stone’s skip from the boat ride.
I scooped snow into a cup on what looked like an old vending cart and joked to my crew, “Snow cone, anyone?”
The day was one of the coldest I can remember, but there was no wind, and that made all the difference. So, we continued our adventure.
The most bizarre sight was a Ferris wheel still stretching into the sky minus its gondolas. What made the sight particularly unusual was the rather large tree that had grown straight through the middle of it, as if to bring time to a halt. The scene was ominous. It’s because of this vibe that the abandoned park was used in the filming of a horror movie called Closed for the Season.
The resulting video was one of the most-watched I ever produced, receiving hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube in a series I used to feature called Lost in Ohio. But it was so long ago—I’ve been the OhioTraveler for nearly 25 years—that I decided to delete the Lost in Ohio videos. I didn’t want the old audio and video technology to represent my current capabilities. If you remember old YouTube videos, you’ll understand the decision. 😉
Chippewa Lake Park dazzled crowds for a century from 1878 to 1978, closing on its centennial season. Like most regional amusement parks, it declined in attendance due to the rise of super amusement parks like Cedar Point.
Several decades after the last ticket was sold, and the skeletal remains tangled with nature’s revenge, the Medina County Park District acquired the abandoned grounds. They plan to turn the nearly 100-acre area into a public park and nature preserve with an ADA-accessible trail, a picnic shelter, seating areas, and restrooms.
The rusted remains of the Ferris wheel will be preserved as a static historical display.
The Chippewa Lake Historical Society also plans to convert an old house on the site into a museum showcasing artifacts from the former amusement park. Currently, the Historical Society museum displays an old park sign. When I filmed there, the connection between past and present was sealed as I went straight from seeing the sign in a museum to the park entrance, where the cracked concrete remains stretched upward toward the missing grand entrance sign that once welcomed visitors.
When it was time to conclude our visit and seek warmth, my dad shared that he remembered visiting Chippewa Lake Park as a kid, and that his dad, a welder, was invited to bring his family to a company outing there for free. They probably didn’t know he had nine children. lol
I took one last look around and tried to imagine my dad’s mind reminiscing of the smell of roasted peanuts, echoes of laughter and screeching thrill rides, and soft breeze coming off the lake, as he stared at an overgrown field of grass and steel, ready to rise for a third act.
Explore more Vacationland: Echoes of Ohio’s Nostalgic Destinations
By Frank Rocco Satullo, The OhioTraveler, Your Tour Guide to Fun
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