Crystal Beach Park

“The memories within the millions of people who experienced Crystal Beach, even just once, will never be lost.” One of Canada’s greatest entertainment centres existed for one hundred years in an isolated little village in one of the southernmost corners of Ontario, just across the lake from Buffalo, New York. Nicknamed “Buffalo’s Coney Island,” the Crystal Beach Amusement Park swarmed with American visitors in its mid-century glory days, and its stories were carried all over the world. A Crystal Beach resident since childhood, Gary Pooler takes readers behind the scenes of a world class amusement park, combining local history, sports journalism, true crime, and North American folklore to create a unique picture of the quirky Crystal Beach community, both in and “out of the park,” through its geographical and social history. These collected stories tell of the life and times in an amusement park resort community—a summer-long carnival, illegal prizefighting in the nearby sand hills, world class entertainers and athletes, featuring the likes of Jesse Owens, an eccentric traveling minstrel, vaudevillians settling in the village, police scandals, bootlegging, and even murder. Pooler chronicles the gradual decline and closure of the amusement park and the effect this had on the village, and illustrates the community’s triumphant renaissance in recent years. Harrowing and nostalgic, Crystal Beach: Out of the Park is a rare and vital historical record and a spirited exploration of Crystal Beach in all of its various shades and stages.

The American Dream came true in Canada as U.S. entrepreneurs converted a wilderness lakeshore into the Crystal Beach amusement park. An excursion to Crystal Beach meant a trip on the Canadiana or one of the other ferries that whisked eager Americans over the border. Once inside the park, visitors experienced unforgettable sights, smells and thrills.

Covers the history of Crystal Beach Park, focusing on the midway and the park's growth and development from 1890 through its demise in 1989. Includes the history of all the Crystal Beach rides, with over 300 archival photos, park layouts that illustrate the evolution of the midway with background information about the people behind the park.

A well-crafted debut novel that offers serious food for thought for young readers, without being too scary Effie knew she wasn't the same after her accident but didn't realize how different she had become until her family vacation. When Effie begins to hear whispers and have visions things get really strange! Effie finds a love letter to her mother that isn't from her father! A strange mystery girl seems to follow her wherever she goes but vanishes before Effie can confront her. Even the rides in the amusement park begin to speak to her! Effie wonders; is she going crazy? Are all the things that are happening trying to tell her something? The perfect mystery story for those who love Crystal Beach and it's popular amusement park that was closed down in 1989.

It's the summer of 1990 and Crystal Beach has lost its beloved, long-running amusement park, leaving the lakeside village a virtual ghost town. It is back to this fallen community Starla Mia Martin must return to live with her overbearing mother after dropping out of university and racking up significant debt. But an economic downturn, mother-daughter drama, and Generation X disillusionment soon prove to be to be the least of Starla's troubles. A mysterious and salacious force begins to dog Starla; inexplicable sounds in the night and unimaginable sites spotted in the periphery. Soon enough, Starla must confront the unresolved traumas that haunt Crystal Beach. Sodom Road Exit might read like a conventional paranormal thriller, except that Starla is far from a conventional protagonist. Where others might feel fear, Starla feels lust and queer desire. When others might run, Starla draws the horror nearer. And in turn, she draws a host of capricious characters toward her—all of them challenged to seek answers beyond their own temporal realities. Sodom Road Exit, the second novel by Lambda Literary Award winner Amber Dawn, is a book that's alive with both desire and dread. This publication meets the EPUB Accessibility requirements and it also meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG-AA). It is screen-reader friendly and is accessible to persons with disabilities. A Simple book with few images, which is defined with accessible structural markup. This book contains various accessibility features such as alternative text for images, table of contents, page-list, landmark, reading order and semantic structure.

Crystal Beach Park closed its doors for the last time in 1965. But for the people who enjoyed all that it had to offer, sweet memories linger on. To commemorate the one hundred-year anniversary of the opening of Crystal Beach Park, Sandra Calvert Mueller, Marlene Calvert Feldkamp, and Tom Ryan share the park's history, along with their own treasured experiences, through photos and commentary. "Memories of Crystal Beach Park, Vermilion, Ohio" presents the nostalgic reader with two hundred pictures of the amusement park rides, the buildings, and-most importantly-the people who were part of the Crystal Beach family. Whether you worked at the park, rode all the rides, or simply love to learn about what life was like in days past, this book will take you on a most enjoyable trip down memory lane.

Crystal Beach in Color is a compilation of photos celebrating Crystal Beach Park, Ontario on the Lake Erie shore near Buffalo, New York. It marks the quarter century that has elapsed since the park closed its gates forever after the 1989 season. Rare color images capture the best of the midway from the late 1950s through the 1980s in a retrospective of a lost Niagara Frontier treasure. By day or night, Crystal Beach Park was a kaleidoscope of sound, motion, color and art that all generations can now contemplate through the photographs. Chapters cover many of the major rides, the roller coasters, and the park at night through rare color photos. The last chapter contains rare black and white color images of the park dating back to 1900 before the advent of color photography.

Throughout the twentieth century, African Americans challenged segregation at amusement parks, swimming pools, and skating rinks not only in pursuit of pleasure but as part of a wider struggle for racial equality. Well before the Montgomery bus boycott, mothers led their children into segregated amusement parks, teenagers congregated at forbidden swimming pools, and church groups picnicked at white-only parks. But too often white mobs attacked those who dared to transgress racial norms. In Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters, Victoria W. Wolcott tells the story of this battle for access to leisure space in cities all over the United States. Contradicting the nostalgic image of urban leisure venues as democratic spaces, Wolcott reveals that racial segregation was crucial to their appeal. Parks, pools, and playgrounds offered city dwellers room to exercise, relax, and escape urban cares. These gathering spots also gave young people the opportunity to mingle, flirt, and dance. As cities grew more diverse, these social forms of fun prompted white insistence on racially exclusive recreation. Wolcott shows how black activists and ordinary people fought such infringements on their right to access public leisure. In the face of violence and intimidation, they swam at white-only beaches, boycotted discriminatory roller rinks, and picketed Jim Crow amusement parks. When African Americans demanded inclusive public recreational facilities, white consumers abandoned those places. Many parks closed or privatized within a decade of desegregation. Wolcott's book tracks the decline of the urban amusement park and the simultaneous rise of the suburban theme park, reframing these shifts within the civil rights context. Filled with detailed accounts and powerful insights, Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters brings to light overlooked aspects of conflicts over public accommodations. This eloquent history demonstrates the significance of leisure in American race relations.