I lived in the neighborhood
that bordered along side Fantasy Farm. I can remember the
construction of the park. We, my friends and I, would watch Lindy
bulldoze the parking lot. We also watched the construction of the
motel. I was friends with Reed and David Streithau.
My friends and I would often
ride our bikes up to the parks fence, the fence that kept our
neighborhood free of Mr. Streithaus's farm animals. My friends
and I would spend time pulling the grass and weeds up so we could feed
the animals through the fence. Often times I could remember
hanging onto the fence and looking into the park watching the people
on the inside having fun. The noise of the rides were always in
the background of my childhood. You could hear those mono-railed
guided turnpike cars as well as see them at the end of my road.
It seems that before the figure 8 cars were there the Wild Mouse was in that
spot. Fantasy Farm and Lesourdsville Lake were as much a part of my
neighborhood as the friends I grew up with. The screeches, screams,
horns, lights, and load speakers were always around even into the
evening hours. If we rode our bikes up just a little ways up the
road, close to the tree house and gift store the Streithaus had some
very fine tasting grapes. The vines would just completely cover and
drape over the fence. I have to confess I wasn't much of a fan for
Fantasy Farm. The rides seemed to be for smaller kids than myself. I
will say, however, that I enjoyed the Tom Sawyer cave. It was always
so cool in there compared to the heat of a hot summer day. I believe
that area the cave was in used to be a gravel pit with a real rusting
steam powered steam shovel. I remember walking with my mom down our
street, through the gravel pit and straight to the entrance to
Lesourdsville Lake. My friends and I, all close to the same age had
the privilege of being given free passes to enter Lesourdsville Lake
from the time we were in upper elementary school to high School. So of
course I was partial to Lesourdsville Lake. Although I did enter
Fantasy Farm a few times. My friends and I didn't arrive in a car
though, we would just walk up and hand the person at the gate the
money and continue to walk in. The times I was there I wasn't
interested in the rides as much as I was just seeing the inside of the
place. I kind of considered it a rival to Lesourdsville Lake because
in my mind, "The Lake", as we referred to Lesourdsville Lake was there
first. As I think back on those years it has only been recently that
I realized how lucky I was to have grown up with these two parks. As
kids we knew the names and could point out most of the people
responsible for the creation of both parks. A few lived in my
neighborhood and even my neighborhood street names were named after
some of the big names of both parks. I for one really never
experienced a lot of excitement say as someone who planned and
traveled to these two parks. For me, it was more or less an extension
of my own backyard. It was hard to try an find a starting place for
this email seeing how I wasn't an average patron of the park. I'm not
even sure how this email will place into the web sites theme. But
thank you for this opportunity to stroll down memory lane. What I
have written isn't even the tip of an iceberg of memories I have of
both parks.
My friends and I would often
ride our bikes up to the parks fence, the fence that kept our
neighborhood free of Mr. Streithaus's farm animals. My friends
and I would spend time pulling the grass and weeds up so we could feed
the animals through the fence. Often times I could remember
hanging onto the fence and looking into the park watching the people
on the inside having fun. The noise of the rides were always in
the background of my childhood. You could hear those mono-railed
guided turnpike cars as well as see them at the end of my road.
It seems that before the figure 8 cars were there the Wild Mouse was in that
spot. Fantasy Farm and Lesourdsville Lake were as much a part of my
neighborhood as the friends I grew up with. The screeches, screams,
horns, lights, and load speakers were always around even into the
evening hours. If we rode our bikes up just a little ways up the
road, close to the tree house and gift store the Streithaus had some
very fine tasting grapes. The vines would just completely cover and
drape over the fence. I have to confess I wasn't much of a fan for
Fantasy Farm. The rides seemed to be for smaller kids than myself. I
will say, however, that I enjoyed the Tom Sawyer cave. It was always
so cool in there compared to the heat of a hot summer day. I believe
that area the cave was in used to be a gravel pit with a real rusting
steam powered steam shovel. I remember walking with my mom down our
street, through the gravel pit and straight to the entrance to
Lesourdsville Lake. My friends and I, all close to the same age had
the privilege of being given free passes to enter Lesourdsville Lake
from the time we were in upper elementary school to high School. So of
course I was partial to Lesourdsville Lake. Although I did enter
Fantasy Farm a few times. My friends and I didn't arrive in a car
though, we would just walk up and hand the person at the gate the
money and continue to walk in. The times I was there I wasn't
interested in the rides as much as I was just seeing the inside of the
place. I kind of considered it a rival to Lesourdsville Lake because
in my mind, "The Lake", as we referred to Lesourdsville Lake was there
first. As I think back on those years it has only been recently that
I realized how lucky I was to have grown up with these two parks. As
kids we knew the names and could point out most of the people
responsible for the creation of both parks. A few lived in my
neighborhood and even my neighborhood street names were named after
some of the big names of both parks. I for one really never
experienced a lot of excitement say as someone who planned and
traveled to these two parks. For me, it was more or less an extension
of my own backyard. It was hard to try an find a starting place for
this email seeing how I wasn't an average patron of the park. I'm not
even sure how this email will place into the web sites theme. But
thank you for this opportunity to stroll down memory lane. What I
have written isn't even the tip of an iceberg of memories I have of
both parks. 