Lakeside Amusement Park

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For the former park in Salem, Virginia, see Lakeside Amusement Park (Salem, Virginia)

**Lakeside Amusement Park**
Address	4601 Sheridan Boulevard Lakeside, CO 80212
Phone numbers	303-477-1621
Website	http://www.lakesideamusementpark.com/
Owner	Rhoda Krasner
Opened	May 30, 1908
Operating season	second week in June to Labor Day
Rides	36 total 3 roller coasters
Slogan	Enjoy the Ride!

Lakeside Amusement Park is a family owned^[1] amusement park in Lakeside, Colorado near Denver. It was opened in 1908 as a popular amusement resort adjacent to Lake Rhoda spearheaded by prominent Denver brewer Adolph Zang, and popularly nicknamed the White City for its glittering original display of over 100,000 lights. Today it is one of the oldest amusement parks in the nation, and the oldest in Colorado in its original location. The park, comprising nearly half of the Town of Lakeside that it was responsible for creating in 1907, features the landmark Tower of Jewels.

1 History
2 Rides
3 Television, film and theatrical references
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

The park was originally built in the Exposition and White City architectural styles. Following its acquisition by Ben Krasner in the 1930's, Lakeside underwent a period of major renovations and incorporated many new features in the Art Deco style. Architect Richard L. Crowther designed much of Lakeside's Deco and Modern features and included a great deal of neon lighting in his work.^[2]

There are many examples of architectural salvage to be found throughout the park. Inside the main restaurant is a marble and mirror backbar which was saved from the Denver Union Station, one of the picnic pavilions is created from a retired center column of a ride, and the pool for the current Skoota Boats ride is an adaptive reuse of the original Shoot-the-Chutes ride.

[edit] Rides

Auto Skooters (Bumper Cars)
Coaster
Crystal Palace
Dragon
Ferris Wheel
Flying Dutchman
Hurricane

Loop-O-Plane
Matterhorn
Merry-Go-Round
Rock-O-Plane
Roll-O-Plane
Satellite
Scrambler

Skoota Boats (Bumper Boats)
Spider
Sports Cars
Tilt-A-Whirl
Train
Whip
Wild Chipmunk

Of note:

The 22" gauge lake-circling miniature railwaytrain features the steam train locomotives "Puffing Billy" and "Whistling Tom" from the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair along with the world's first miniature gauge diesel locomotive, patterned after the California Zephyr.
The 1908 carousel was apparently made up from used figures from other carousels. Many of the animals bear characteristic designs of famed woodcarver Charles I. D. Looff. The carousel has also been credited to the Parker company, but the Lakeside horses do not have the typical Parker metal horseshoes.

Carousel details:

Type: 4 rows, Park, 3-level platform, all wood composition

Figures: 16 jumping horses, 16 standing horses, 4 chariots; figures include 2 bears, 4 burros, 3 deer, 4 dogs, 5 goats, 2 lions, 4 pigs, 4 rabbits, 2 tigers, 2 zebras, 2 panthers, 1 cheetah, 2 monkeys, and 3 cougars

Music: no band organ

[edit] Kiddie rides

Coaster
Flying Tigers
Turtles
Ferris Wheel
Wet Boats

Frog Hopper
Granny Bug
Horse & Buggy
Space Ride
Dry Boats

Kiddie Canoes
Sky Fighters
Midge-o-Racers
Kiddie Whip
Motorcycles

[edit] Roller coasters

Ride	Year Opened	Description
The Cyclone	1940	An Ed Vettel-designed traditional wooden coaster.
Wild Chipmunk	1955	A Wild Mouse wooden coaster.
Dragon	1989	A Zamperla dragon coaster.

[edit] Defunct rides

From the late 1930's through 1985 Lakeside Amusement Park operated Lakeside Speedway on the park grounds. The auto racetrack was a 1/5th mile oval. The race track was built on the site of the park's original baseball diamond and incorporated the original stands into the new use.