Stricker's Grove - 7/4/2023

Having lived in Ohio for my entire 52 years, I had never been to Stricker's Grove. This out-of-the-way "park" is only open to the public 4 days a year (I believe it's open during the Hamilton County Fair as well, but still, that's only like 9 days a year total), so getting there requires a bit of patience. With July 4th being one of the "GP" days, I decided to head down to Hamilton and get on the two elusive credits that Stricker's is home to.

First off, this park is pretty much built in a cornfield. There is literally nothing around the park except acres of cornfields. It's a setting not unlike driving up to Darien Lake, as there seems to be nothing around and then all of a sudden, there's a roller coaster. Parking was $5 if you arrived before 6, and then $10 after 6 as it was a fireworks night. I arrived at 2:30, waited about 10 minutes to buy my $20 for an unlimited ride wristband, and then waited for the "rope drop" to the rides. I will say this- Strickers is small. I knew it was going to be a small park, but I didn't realize just how small it would be. For those familiar with Waldameer, I'd say it's about the size of the midway from Whacky Shack to Steel Dragon, and even that might be stretching it. But Stricker's packs in a bunch of rides here, including two wooden coasters, a Flying Scooter ride, Super Round Up, Scrambler, Tilt-A-Whirl, Huss Pirate (which was closed), a rare Hrubetz Tip Top, Eli Ferris Wheel, Chance CP Huntington train, a small Carousel, and about a half dozen kids rides. Once they opened the gate at 3:00, it was a mass mob of people running to their favorites. Seriously, this was on the same level as a Cedar Point rope drop!

My main goal was to get the two credits as it was 90 degrees and just not a pleasant day for any sized amusement park, so I headed directly to Tornado, the park's "big" coaster. Featuring PTC trains with buzz bars, Tornado is a compact wood coaster built in-house and includes a decent first drop, a few smaller drops and turns, and near the end, there's a drop that yanks you out of your seat. Definitely wasn't expecting that! The ride was smooth for the most part and overall I'd give Tornado a grade of 'B'. Props to the 2 person staff who were getting the one train loaded, dispatched and unloaded in a very quick fashion as the line stretched quite a ways past the entry ramp.

Next stop, Teddy Bear, an in-house built kids wooden coaster. This reminded me of a shorter version of Waldameer's Comet. Smooth, small drops, but enough speed to give everyone a bit of a thrill. I absolutely loved the Teddy Bear logo on the front of the train. Anyhow, I give Teddy Bear a 'C'. Fun, but since it's a kiddie coaster, there isn't a lot to it.

Took a spin on the Flying Scooters and these were fun, but they seemed to go a little too fast in order to get any stalling or snapping going. Looks like they were recently repainted though as the ride looked bright and vibrant.

My final ride was on the park's Train. Traveling around the perimeter of the park and parking lot, you get a great view of the cornfields and also a nice look at Tornado. There's also a small tunnel that cuts underneath the park's entrance drive. It's a nice little diversion and well worth a ride if you're ever at the park.

As I didn't have much time, that was pretty much it for me as the park was mobbed (well, it seemed that way anyways probably due to the small size of the place), I felt like I was starting to melt in the heat, and I had to drive 4 hours home and go to work this morning. I am glad I visited as it's fun to add these 2 coasters to my list. The park appeared to be well maintained, the staff were friendly for the most part, and prices aren't bad at all. There were a bunch of enthusiasts there as I saw shirts from SF Great Adventure, Cedar Point, Holiday World, and even Fuji-Q, and I'll assume they were getting their credits as well!

If you have never been to Stricker's and it's on your bucket list, I say go for it. I'd find some other plans though for the day since there's not a ton to do. Perhaps make a visit to Jungle Jim's International Market (about 15 minutes away), which is an absolutely enormous grocery store that sells imported foods, normal groceries, hundreds of brands of soda pop, toys, and just about any other kind of foods you can think of. It even has a monorail from Kings Island's old Wild Animal Habitat parked out front. I definitely need to go back as there is sooooo much in there and again, my limited time didn't help. I did pick up some UK Cadbury candy bars and Kit Kats, which are vastly superior to ours. Plus, the prices seemed quite reasonable considering they import a lot of these foods.

Ok, sorry for rambling. Thanks for reading and hope everyone had a good holiday weekend.

Tornado was an in-house project and is a direct copy of another ride- I forget which one now. But that one low drop is indeed a surprise thrill. My joke was that when they were done they turned around and there was an extra bent laying over there on the ground. “Oh well,” they said, “ let’s see how it runs without it.”
Rumors state that Strickers has/had CP’s Schwabinchen but never did anything with it.
Finally- Jungle Jims is an excellent suggestion, it’s a wonderland of groceries, and just about everything you can think of. So much beer, so much bakery, so much produce, a honey bar, a hot sauce bar, ….
Jim is a bit of a kook and he bought up any old promotional super market kitch he could find, much if it animatronic. He also bought Kings Islands monorail with the intent of operating it around the parking lot and the store. Some of that came to pass but it’s not an operating attraction. It’s fun to see anyway.
I love Strickers but haven’t been in years. I’m glad you got to go.