Arnolds Park gets half-million dollar gift

Posted | Contributed by Jeff

Local officials, Iowa Great Lakes Maritime Museum board members and those involved in the "Sustain the Park" effort praised South Dakotan Ed Parsen for his gift of $500,000 to the South Dakota Community Foundation on behalf of the IGLMM Tuesday. The IGLMM is the umbrella organization that operates the Arnolds Park Amusement Park, the Green Space used for concerts, the Maritime Museum, the Queen II excursion boat and the Queen's Court shopping area.

Read more from The Sioux City Journal.

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Arnolds Park

Thank goodness!

I visited Arnold's Park back in 2002, anyone who hasn't been there and happens to stroll by northern Iowa should stop by. Sure its not a major park, but they have a pretty mean John Miller coaster. Not to be confused with HW's Legend, the Legend coaster is a nice little classic that goes around the perimeter of the park.

~Rob Willi

Im going this summer.

Hearing lots of Rave Reviews of Legend :)

Sweet, I am heading up there next weekend. I'm glad they are still open as I live in Iowa and have never been there, but I will finally get to conquer the park.

Its a small park - sort of a "mini-IB" - and you really won't need more than a few hours there to ride some of the assorted flats and have a mini-marathon on Legend. If you're visiting best to get there late in the afternoon so you can enjoy some evening rides on Legend.

Moosh hit it on the head. Kind of an IB-Lite. The park sits right on the beautiful Lake Okoboji and is quite a neat little place. I'm really glad to see it get some financial support.

Horray! That's great news. The Legend is definitely a mean little John Miller woodie. I rode it about 25 times over a couple of hours when I was last there. Even at 5pm, the Legend was tossing me around like mad. It's been about 10 years since I got a late night ride. I think I need to remedy that soon.
Anyone swinging through central Iowa on their way to the park, look me up!

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