what are 'midways'??

i am sure many of you will be laughing at this question as it seems that every american knows what a midway is, but i am english and have never heard of this thing called a midway, so what is a midway?!

That's OK, we don't put petrol in our lorries either. ;)

A midway is just the name given to the "street" of an amusement park. I think we generally think of them in the traditional sense of a long walkway with rides, games and food stands on either side, but I tend to think of it as any part of a park.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

At fairs in this country it is where they set up all of the rides and games. Usually our fairs have some type of other activity besides rides and games and they are a secondary part of the main event. For example, locally we have a State Fair which is for farmers to bring in their animals and have them judged and they also hold auto races and food is another big part of the fair. The rides are secondary and are put in an area called a midway. Another example we have is called Summerfest in which they have five or six stages with major bands from all over the country plus a main stage with the monster acts that play. This also has a ride and game area which is a midway.

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Bob Hansen

A proud CoasterBuzz Member

"So you think your'e really brave, gonna see the DEMONS cave.
You silly dude, your'e only food, for the DEMON"

"Midway": Airport in Chicago

Ooops. Wrong topic. :)

Even though Midway is pretty much what Jeff described, I feel it should have been named differently because some people would assume its a pathway right down the center of a park.

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""To be the man, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!, You got to beat the man""!!!

But doesn't Cedar Point have more than one midway, or is it just the one going down the center of the park?

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"The opposite of war isn't peace, its creation," Rent.

Well, I imagine that's exactly how it all began, Chitown. I imagine a time of amusement parks with a more simple layout and the midway as a large walkway cutting right down the center of it all. Bright lights, exciting rides, the smells, the sounds - the midway!

I'm guessing that's how the term started, then it just stuck as a piece of amusement park terminology.

The main path at CP from the entrance running into Corckscrew would be a classic midway.

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www.coasterimage.com

*** This post was edited by Lord Gonchar on 5/15/2002. ***

ok, i get you now, kinda like main street USA in a disney park?

Actually Chitown, you're *really* not too far off. The term "Midway" actually *does* come from Chicago, specifically the World's Fair there. Because of the main thouroughfare of the World's Fair was on the street "Midway Plasinance" (sp?), many people would just say "I'm going to the 'midway'". Thus the term 'midway' became synonomous with a strip with games/rides/attractions along its sides. This concept was extended and used as a foundation for the Coney Island parks. So 'originally' a 'midway' *was* a single strip that ran the length of the amusement facility. However, as the industry evolved, parks began to adapt more circuitous type shapes instead of the single elongated strip. However, the term 'midway' remained.

Well that's the short version anyway. Suprisingly, I had just seen a PBS special this past Sunday that talked exactly about this self-same subject.
lata,
jeremy
--"Ride, ride this wave of mine. There're brighter things on the other side." Res Tsunami

There you have it. I knew someone had a good understanding of the word's history!

Yeah, nice job Jeremy. Next time try to add a few more asterisks and single quotation marks. ;) Talk about trying to keep that straight in my mind! *ouch* :)

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Sorrrrrrrry folks! Parks closed. The moose out front should have told you.

Well they really don't teach us "Midways" in school.

So what 2hostyl said is accurate.

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