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Volume 2, No. 10. June 14, 2002

Sunday: Idlewild 125
Idlewild and Soak Zone in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, always honors somebody to kick off its season, which begins Memorial Day weekend. This year the park honored itself, recognizing 125 years as a picnic grove and amusement park.

Typically Idlewild, the actual celebratory day was low key, with a collection of vendors selling Idlewild-themed collectibles and a ceremony at the Hillside Theatre Stage that included official proclamations, raffle prizes and an anniversary cake cutting. It also marked the park’s first alumni reunion.

“We had kicked around the idea of starting an alumni association before but never did anything,” said Jerome Gibas, the Kennywood-owned park’s vice president and general manager. “We decided this would be a great time to get it started.” The new association has already signed up about two dozen alumni, many of whom turned out for the May 26 ceremony. “I was surprised, not so much with the number, but that we were able to reach back so far,” Gibas said. “One worked here back in 1947.”

One other aspect of the celebration looks like it will have a lasting legacy of its own. For this season Idlewild created an 18-station walking tour with signs pointing out a building’s or attraction’s historical place in the park’s chronology. The self-guided tour was developed by amusement park historian Jim Futrell and Kennywood Public Relations Director Mary Lou Rosemeyer.

“We wanted to come up with a way to show people the history of Idlewild,” Gibas said. “There are buildings and locations in the park people pass all the time and didn’t realize how old they were or how important they were to us. I think it’s a very good cross-reference of the different areas of the park and when they came into existence.”

Gibas and company are so pleased with the result that though the walking tour itself will probably end after this year, they plan to keep the signs up—sans numbers—as historical markers.