Crystal Beach, Ontario
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- For other uses, see Crystal Beach (disambiguation)
Crystal Beach is a beach community located on the Canadian shores of Lake Erie. Located next to Ridgeway, Ontario, it is part of Fort Erie, Ontario, which stretches from the Canada-US border to Niagara Falls. Once-famous for a popular amusement park of the same name, the amusement park closed on September 4, 1989 due to financial problems. Since then, Crystal Beach has maintained its cottage-country atmosphere, with a mixture of full-time and seasonal residents.
Bay Beach, the chief beach in Crystal Beach, is one of the safest and most accessible beaches on the Canadian side of Lake Erie. The beach is especially suited for children with its sandy shore and gradual gradiant. With ample parking, thousands of people from the US and Canada enjoy the beach on summer weekends. Though the beach is bordered by private homes, visitors are permitted to walk beyond the public beach in any direction, so long as they keep close to the shoreline.
Fishing is popular in the waters surrounding Crystal Beach, and boaters can launch their boats at the public launch. Visiting boats can moor at the various boat and yacht clubs in the area; and many drop anchor at the beach itself.
Houses in Crystal Beach range from inexpensive summer-only cottages to multi-million-dollar lakefront homes. After the amusement park closed, many houses fell into disrepair. However, Crystal Beach eventually enjoyed a renaissance, and most houses were upgraded considerably in the late 1990s. Because every house in the area is unique, with older homes dotted throughout the area, the area constitutes its own history book and merits a drive.
Crystal Beach is home to a number of antique and craft shops, restaurants, snack bars and bars. Buffalo wings are available everywhere, reflecting Crystal Beach's location just across from Buffalo itself.
[edit] Crystal Beach Park History
When it first opened in 1888, the park was served by steamboats from nearby Buffalo, New York. A large portion of its patrons were Buffalo-area residents. Boat service would continue to connect the city with the park until 1956. The main passenger vessels used for these journeys were the Canadiana and the Americana. The park was famous for the Crystal Beach Cyclone, built in 1927. The Cyclone was an intense roller coaster with a full time nurse at the unloading platform to revive riders who had passed out during the ride. In 1946, high operating costs forced the ride to close. Many of the materials from the Cyclone were re-used in the construction of the Crystal Beach Comet, another roller coaster with a slightly less intense ride. Following the park's closing, the Comet was moved to The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom in Lake George, New York where it still operates today.
Land where the amusement park once stood has since been converted into Crystal Beach Tennis and Yacht Club, a private residential community. The resort town surrounding the beach is still a popular vacation and second-home area for Buffalonians and Torontonians, full-time residents, and retirees from elsewhere in Ontario.
