Judge slams Conneaut Lake Park financial report

Most interesting to me are the reader comments at the bottom of the article.

I find the GP opinion most refreshing after spending a majority of my time on enthusiast sites. Then again, I've always been interested in how the GP sees parks, rides and park related issues.

CLP is a quaint park with a ton of potential...should the right management and funding come along.

I guess I saw most of the comments after the article as negative. There were a lot of "put it out of it's misery" posts! Not exactly glaring reviews that make me optimistic. Sadly, methinks the park may be nearing the end...

They are very negative. That's what I find refreshing. Obviously we as enthusiasts want to see the park survive and hopefully even thrive.

These are the people of the community leaving comments. The very people who live with CLP in their backyard. They seem to think "good riddance"

While you'll have a plethora of enthusiasts spounting "save the rides", "help CLP" or whatnot - hell, I've even done it. There are postcards sold at the park with my pics on them and it's pretty hard to find a page on their site that doesn't use one of my photos (and the ones that don't have my pics feature pics from Paul Drabek) - all donated free of charge to help the park.

I find it interesting that the people who live with the park seem to be ok with it fading into history.

Were those comments from locals who benefit from the tourism revenue CLP does, or could, produce? I bet hotel, restaurant, boat rental, and other companies that rely heavily on tourism the lake and park generate have a much different opinion.

I have a honeysuckle vine on my patio. Two weeks ago it looked to be all but dead....not a green leaf on it! I gave it a little extra water and some plant minerals and this week it sprank back to life and is growning vigorously. Sometimes it just takes the right gardener to make things fruitful.

mOOSH [aka Chauncey The Gardener*]

*let's see if anyone gets that movie reference!

The year that park closed, all those 'auxillary' businesses dropped 30%-50%. That is why they screamed to get the place open. No one up there has deep pockets to inject the capital needed, and until the lawsuits are finished, no other park owner will go in and manage.

The judge will not allow any more local groups to form a company and manage, either, because they do not have fiscal responsibility. CLP has a good experienced core of staff to maintain the rides, the hotel, and the campground. The other tenants pay their rent, but really can't invest for the same reason, the lawsuits. CLP needs time to swim through the red tape, and then people will come to the rescue.

Fortunately, with some good weather, a few more good decisions, some revenue producing fall and holiday events, and all of a sudden, the water may not be so deep.

Good morning, Mr. Moosh. Are you being there?

I like to watch, tricktrack ;)

Agent: This season the Campground was leased out to the people that own/operate the Parkside (formerly McKinley) motel. they handle the maintenance and day to day running and mgt. (I spent several days at the Parkside and talked to the mgr about how the area is doing etc.) She told me that they pay a monthly rent to the park and 25% of the bring-in from camping/rv septic suckers and such. That's why the cost of camping increased from 10 to 15 a night for tent sites (primative) and similar increases for rv sites w/electric/h2o. 15 a night still isn't bad for camping compared to some of the places i've stayed. The prices for camping had not changed in 15 yrs. I agree, the area took a huge hit when the park closed for a year. I was there that final year on labor day weekend. Reo Speedwagon and Loverboy played the lawn and a huge T-storm hit. the power was out for about 2 hrs, and the midway flooded. As soon as the power came back, the rides reopened. They even gave back refund vouchers due to the concert being shot because of the weather.
While I was in the CLP/Meadville area, many of the people I spoke with have a differant story regarding recent business closings. Meadville mall is a ghost town w/three whole stores open. A lady working at the Payless there said: Walmart, the walmart's killing all the small business here. It was about 6pm when we were there and she showed me the days register tape. 10 transactions all told. I hope nothing but the best for the park. It's the closest thing i have to the park i grew up with: Euclid Beach. Euclid, though, closed for a differant reason than lack of funds.*** This post was edited by FLYINGSCOOTER 8/24/2005 9:07:26 AM ***
*** This post was edited by FLYINGSCOOTER 8/24/2005 10:59:54 AM ***

Financial woes in CLP don't surprise me. And next winter or spring we can probably hear about not having enough money to open for 2006.

I heard from and interview with Paul Nelson(owner of Waldameer, Erie Pa) on TV saying "we are the 11th oldest amusement park soon to be the 10th."

FYI, Almost all parks are down in attendance and it's nothing to do with the parks.

When people are used to paying 1.60 a gallon for gas and the price is almost double. That money has to come from somewhere.

Add in the fact that the price of everything rises due to high energy cost and people no longer have a choice to take the fam to a park or pay for gass.

Chuck, who loves CLP and will be back as long as it's open.
It's the only other park besides Compounce and Lesourdsville that had a very laid back atmosphere about it that was enjoyable by itself.

I bet HW sees an increase this year ;)

...PKI? ...Disney? ...Dells?

How is it that CP and, like, one or 2 other parks are down, and that translates to a lot of parks down? Wasn't Paramount's attendance up, or am I making that up? BGT is up, Kennywood is up. SF seems to be up.

There are only a few parks with a dip in attendance this year, lord. I don't see 'Almost All' parks being down.

PKI is down, last I heard

Chuck

I hear a lot of parks are down.

And then sometime after the park closes (if/when), the paper will be filled with comments and letters to the editor that "there's nothing to do around here."