15th Annual, Remembering the Sights and Sounds of Euclid Beach Park
September of this year will mark 50 years since Cleveland’s beloved amusement park, Euclid Beach Park closed forever. For 74 seasons it operated on the shore of Lake Erie in Cleveland’s Collinwood/Nottingham neighborhood. Although many were saddened by the amusement park’s closing, this year’s event sponsored by Euclid Beach Park Now in partnership with Cleveland Metroparks, and made possible by a grant from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, celebrates 50 Years of Fond Memories. To help rekindle memories of the grand amusement park, Euclid Beach Park Now has produced photo posters of the individual rides and attractions with descriptive narrative. These will be placed throughout the park as near as possible to where the ride and attraction once stood. One can take a self-guided tour or tag along on one of the guided tours, led by a Euclid Beach Park Historian relating more park history. There will also be displays of park memorabilia. The Rocket Ship Car and Thriller Car will be present, offering rides out to Lake Shore Boulevard, under the old arch entrance and over the bridge was once part of the Turnpike ride which remains between the two high rise apartment buildings.
New Euclid Beach Park T-shirts and sweatshirts paying homage to the amusement park will be available for purchase, including a new design “Celebrating 50 Years of Fond Memories. DVD’s of park history will be for sale as will CD’s of the three band organs that were at the park. Euclid Beach Park Now’s own book published by Arcadia Publishing will also be available.
Food will be available via Swensons food truck, also Euclid Beach Park popcorn and candy kisses from the Humphrey Company. Weber’s Premium will be on site dispensing frozen custard and malts we enjoyed in the basement of the Higbee Department Store.
Besides the photo posters of rides and attractions, there will be some Euclid Beach Park Memorabilia on display. As in years pass there will be an antique car show, The Cars We Drove To Euclid Beach Park. The date for the event, Sunday, September 29, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm, rain or shine, free admission and free parking. The event is at the current Euclid Beach Park, 16301 Lake Shore Boulevard, Cleveland, OH 44110, just East of the original park entrance and across from the Collinwood Recreation Center.