Volume 2, No. 15. August 9, 2002
Weighty matters
Liz Pensler Rottner
is a self-admitted loudmouth. It was the trait that made her an effective weight
guesser on the Cedar Point midway in the mid-1980s, and she discovered old skills
never die as she and 17 of her colleagues gathered for a reunion at the Sandusky,
Ohio, park last weekend.
As a Michigan State University student from 1984 through 1987, Rottner spent
her summers working at Cedar Point, and all four summers she guessed guest’s
weights for prizes. “I didn’t want to give the same spiel over and
over again; that’s why I didn’t want to be on a ride.” She was
good, she said, regularly recording the “high hours” among an intensely
competitive crew.
An intensely friendly group, too, as it turned out. Inspired by last summer’s
Discovery Channel “behind-the-scenes” profile of Cedar Point, Rottner
decided to take a vacation to her old haunts so her three daughters could see
where she once worked. Upon logging on to the park’s web site she discovered
Alumni Alley where she registered as a former employee and found two of her
fellow weight guessers already registered. Upon contacting them, the idea formed
of putting together a reunion, and a year later the erstwhile midway barkers
descended on the park from as far away as New Jersey.
The park jumped aboard the program, offering free admission to the alum’s
families and a discounted Friday night dinner at The BoatHouse Restaurant, courtesy
of Assistant Director of Foods David Hensley, a former weight guesser himself
who was games manager over Rottner and her friends. The next day, the alumni
joined current guessers at the weigh stations for a day of guessing, with all
proceeds going to the VFW National Home for Children in Eaton Rapids, Michigan.
Meanwhile, the park videotaped the alums guessing. “We were either a lesson
on what not to do or what to do, I’m not certain,” Rottner said. Probably
the latter as Rottner and her friends discovered. “It felt like no time
had gone by. I felt as young as I ever had. It was fun, the style was there,
the money was there. We still had it.” In fact, she turned in the day’s
high hour. Afterward, the whole group went to Louie’s Bar at the end of
the Cedar Point Causeway “just like old times.”
“The only letdown was reality bites; we had to go back to the real world
on Sunday,” Rottner said. “It was nice to be 20 again."
Rottner said the alums did not come on as old-experts to their 2002 counterparts,
but she feels they did impart a valuable lesson. “”Even though it’s
August and it’s hard to come to work every day, it’s the best job
you’ll ever have, and you won’t know it for 15 years.”
212.265.0043
lvhnyc@msn.com
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