![]() I have childhood visions of attending the park and riding the rides, although my fondest memory is in the enclosed photo. I grew up on Clearview Hill and attended Margaret Park Elementary, which was located on the northwest corner of the lake. Going there was the highlight of the year and we loved the wooden roller coaster! I also remember Skyscraper ice cream cones from Isaly’s they had a special-made ice cream scoop to make them. She had a bathing suit with a Red Cross emblem on it.īack in the early 1950s, my brother and I (Bill and Patty Stermer) collected all year long the small cardboard lids from Isaly’s Dairy (located on East Market Street at the bottom of Brittain Road hill) glass milk bottles, to trade for tickets to Summit Lake. She also dove off the Gorge bridge and was a good swimmer. I don’t remember a lot, but do remember the pool. My mom was a lifeguard there, Josephine (Gay) Hearty. ![]() I used to go to Summit Beach Park, went swimming in the Crystal Pool, did rides. Lyn Willis Burkey, daughter of John and Vera John retired from Goodyear and Vera was a nurse, both spending their entire lives in that home. They danced and had fun in addition to having this picture taken at the park.Īfter the honeymoon, they were then longtime residents of their Goodyear Heights home. Attached is the picture of the happy couple, who spent their honeymoon at Summit Beach Park. May 10th, 1927, was a special day for John Willis (27) and Vera Smith Willis (19), their wedding day. It was a day I looked forward to each year. The only ride I can remember is the roller coaster - the first one I ever rode. I believe at that time Summit Beach was the end of the bus line in that direction. My mom and I took the bus to Summit Beach Park to spend the day. You could purchase tickets for the rides using the cardboard caps of milk bottles (yes, milk was sold in returnable bottles) collected during the year. I recall back in the early 1950s when Summit Beach Park had a Lawson’s Day each year. The balloon was most likely stuck to my hand with the leftover cotton candy from earlier in the day. Not sure what concerned me more, being in “City Jail” or sharing the cell with a gorilla. I think I was supposed to be smiling, but apparently I was having no part of that. “Step right up and win a prize!!” It sounded soooo easy. The midway was lined with offers to “knock down the milk cans to win a stuffed animal for the little lady.” There were also galleries to shoot the ducks with play guns and fishing ponds to catch a fish to win a prize. My parents did however let me ride the merry-go-round over and over and over. I was not allowed to ride the roller coaster, because surely I would have fallen to my death. I was only 7 years old when it closed, but I can still remember the rumble of the roller coaster and the smell of cotton candy and roasted peanuts. It was a short trip to Summit Beach Park and one we made often during the summer in the 1950s. Years later, I was able to get two of those pictures from the Beacon Journal archives, which I still have today. That picture was on the cover of the next Sunday’s Roto. There was a Beacon Journal photographer up on the rafters taking pictures of us going down the steep big hill. We bought our tickets for the rides, but as we walked by the roller coaster, they said we could ride the coaster for 10 straight rides free, so of course we jumped on. It was on the opening day for the summer season. Some time in the early ’50s, my neighbor, Mary Rita, and I took the bus from East Akron to Summit Beach Park.
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