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Times Leader P.M. Update: Saturday, Dec. 12

Forty Fort embarks on Hometown Heroes banner project

HARVEYS LAKE &mdash; The last visual reminder of halcyon days at Harveys Lake was removed this week when the building that once housed the rollerskating rink that was built in the 1930s by John Hanson was demolished.
				Brian Orbin of The Harveys Lake Record, a business that he started in September 2012 to be a historical society and news/media company dealing with anything Harveys Lake related, was there to watch the building filled with memories come down.
				Also there to witness the last day of the building was Bruce Hanson, John Hanson&rsquo;s grandson, who said the experience was &ldquo;bittersweet,&rdquo; and he recalled the days when he would operate the roller coaster at Hanson&rsquo;s Amusement Park that was located across Lakeside Drive from the roller skating/bath house building.
				Hanson, 69, said the amusement park closed in September 1984.
				&ldquo;Time goes on,&rdquo; Hanson said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not much we can do.&rdquo;
				Hanson, a Vietnam veteran, lives near the site of the former park. He once operated a marina there and had hoped a developer would build townhouses on the property.
				Hanson and his family would operate the rides. He said he remembers large crowds of people having fun at Hanson&rsquo;s.
				&ldquo;Those were the good old days for sure,&rdquo; he said.
				According to Orbin and his website:
				The roller skating building was commonly referred to as the bathhouse and it was used for many purposes &mdash; including rollerskating and it was one of the many ways to get on a boat from Hanson&rsquo;s.
				The building contained rest rooms and lockerrooms on the first (bottom) floor where people could rent bathing suits back when that was popular.
				There was gas available for boats, and in the 1970s it was used for tie-dying T-shirts before you were able to easily buy them in stores.
				It was also where you would enter the beach at the park, since there was a gate and you would pay at the building.
				The building hasn&rsquo;t been used since 1988 and remained vacant for decades.
				Despite its deteriorated look it was actually still a solid construction after all of these years of not being used or maintained.
				There were many Facebook postings about the demolition.
				One said as crews worked on the demolition&#65532; of the building, many people who were passing by were watching with disbelief as the local landmark was being torn down &mdash; this being one of the last real buildings left with major historical &#65532;influence on the lake.
				Most of the postings were from people recalling wonderful memories of the building and of Hanson&rsquo;s Amusement Park.
				Future plans for the site are for a private boathouse to be built.
				About Hanson&rsquo;s
				From the website harveyslake.org:
				&ldquo;Rising insurance costs, the loss of the Roller Coaster, theme park creations elsewhere, and changing public tastes in entertainment doomed most local amusement parks.
				Other county amusement parks, Sans Souci, Angela Park and Rocky Glen closed. In its last years the Merry-Go-Round, the Pretzel Ride, the Whip, and Flying Coaster still served the park.
				The Kiddie-Land introduced wide-eyed youngsters to the magic of amusement rides.
				But the Lake&rsquo;s public beaches closed and lingered last at Hanson&rsquo;s until at Hanson&rsquo;s the beachfront was converted into boat slip rentals.
				Finally, it was also time to close the amusement park. On Wednesday, Sept. 26, 1984, at 1 p.m., Don Hanson&rsquo;s Amusement Park was auctioned. The sale was handled by Norton Auctioneers of Cold Water, Michigan, a nationally known amusement park auction service.
				During the weeks before the sale, small crowds enjoyed their last rides and photographed their children on the Merry-Go-Round.
				A few of the Hanson rides have remained intact elsewhere. For example, the 60-foot long train, with its four-cylinder Ford gasoline engine cab and three coaches, built in 1948 by the Bittler company of Elmira, New York, is now the Bonneville-Pine Creek Railroad, at Register (near Benton), and sometimes operates between the Bonham Nursing Home and Memorial Park.
				The Merry-Go-Round, separately owned by the Wintersteen family, and not included in the auction sale, was leased in 1987 to Old Town, a park in Kissimmee, Florida, where it delights a new generation of youngsters.
				A few dances were held in the late 1980s with the RPM &ldquo;Old Star&rdquo; 50&rsquo;s Band, Joe Nardone and Billy Brown (formerly the All Stars), and Eddie Day and the Dayettes.
				In the summer of 1989, however, the Coaster, left mute since 1980, was dismantled.
				In May 1992 the 4,000 seat Bud Light Amphitheater opened at Hanson&rsquo;s Park with a May 25 performance by Kenny Loggins and other musical guests.
				During this time Joe Nardone&rsquo;s All Stars and Eddie Day returned for reunion dances at Hanson&rsquo;s dance hall above the restaurant &mdash; ventures which were very successful. The amphitheater had a five year run with many national musical stars at the Lake.
				After 1996 the park grounds have been leased for camping opportunities and for boat rentals. The grand splash from the Chute into the Lake, the musical boom of the Merry-Go-Round, the clapping of the Roller Coaster track, the spark of the Dodgem &mdash; all memories of another time.&rdquo;
				For more information and photos of Hanson&rsquo;s Park, visit the site: http://www.defunctparks.com/parks/PA/hansons/index.htm.

Last reminder of the days of Hanson’s Amusement Park is demolished