40th anniversary of fire at local park

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN)- Friday marks an important day in Mahoning Valley history, and dozens gathered at a parking lot near Lanterman’s Mill — the closest site to where Idora Park once sat — to remember times past.

It was 40 years ago that Idora Park caught fire . The loss of major attractions proved to be a fatal blow, and owners announced the 1984 season would be the last.

Ask any elder in the Valley about Idora Park and chances are, they have plenty of fond memories there. It was a staple in the community, that’s why when a fire destroyed a large portion of it on this day back in 1984, it was devastating for the Mahoning Valley.

The fire started on April 26, 1984, by a welder who was scraping paint with a torch inside the tunnel of The Lost River, a popular water ride. He lived in a neighborhood near Idora Park and went home for lunch.

Next thing he knew, he saw fire trucks racing to the park.

The catastrophic fire destroyed the Lost River, a part of the Wildcat, the park office, and most of the game booths on the lower midway. Labor Day on Sept. 3, 1984, was the last time the park was open to the public.

It was the same Lost River ride where Anita Ward met her husband when she was just 17.

“I remember seeing the smoke and of course, we were all crushed. We were like, crushed,” Ward said.

Outlasting most of the trolley parks that had begun in the late 19th century, operating for 86 seasons.

Jim Amey with the Idora Park Experience said that the fire was devastating.

“The memories, and the photographs, and just the fun. It was just a great place for such a small park, it was only 26 acres, but it was everything to us,” Amey said. “It was here for 85 years and we loved it. You don’t get amusement parks everywhere.”

That’s why Jim created the Idora Park Experience, to preserve and share the memories of the park. He says most people just expected Idora Park would be around forever.

“It was very devastating because Idora Park had been there since 1899, all of our lifetimes and way before, there’s a history of family members going back grandparents and probably great grandparents that had worked there, that had enjoyed Idora Park,” he said.

Jim says after the fire he wanted to collect something big from the park. He found a car from the popular ride Wildcat, then a Jack Rabbit car, and from there, the Idora Park Experience took off. He says when people come and see the collection, it’s an emotional experience for them.

When the steel mills closed, people still had Idora Park to hold onto. That’s why the fire proved particularly devastating. Jim pointed out that you don’t have an amusement park in every town or city, so it truly was special. Jim is getting a group together at 5:30 p.m. to walk through the park.

He says it’s not a goodbye to Idora Park, rather it serves as a “Hey, you’re still here and we’re thinking of you.” He encourages anyone who comes out this evening to bring a trash bag, so they clean up the area along the way and respect what they had at one time.

The experiences were marked by days spent playing games in the arcade, eating french fries and riding the Wildcat and Jack Rabbit.

“My brother worked there — and he worked on the wildcat — he would let me and my girlfriend ride it over and over again if nobody was in line,” recalled Chris and Ray Condas, of Youngstown. “Just come in here every summer — it’s hard to believe it was in our backyard.”

Nearly everyone in attendance at the 40th anniversary gathering wore an Idora Park t-shirt or held a sign, and say they could still picture the rides and games in what’s now an empty lot full of grass and power lines.

“Hopefully we get to see a little remnants of what’s left,” said George Jonda, of Boardman.

It’s a community brought together by the memories of the best parts of their childhoods.

“I recognize a lot of these people from the merry-go-round and The Jackrabbit,” Jonda said.

The Idora Park Experience holds on to what’s left of the park, hoping to pass on the memories to the next generations.

“That’s what Idora Park was all about, was community. And these people loved it and they miss it,” Amey said.

And though the park no longer stands, Ward says, “It’s not gone, really. Not in my heart, in my memories. It’ll always be there.”

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