If you鈥檙e not up for the lines 鈥� and prices 鈥� at an amusement park this weekend, how about a museum that celebrates amusement parks?
The Amusement Preservation Museum in Grafton holds its annual free open house on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visitors can see everything from a scale model of Cedar Point鈥檚 Steel Vengeance to Dorney Park鈥檚 Thunderhawk cars. and closes on Wednesday.
Founder Troy Parsh said Geauga Lake was the departure point for his love of the parks. Now a mechanical engineer, the 26-year-old works with his father to find and restore artifacts for display on the family鈥檚 property in Lorain County.
鈥淚've had a lot of people say that the American Pickers would love to visit our house,鈥� he said.
The duo hopes to one day have a dedicated space, off-site. The project started in 2017 after they found and restored cars from 鈥檚 Raging Wolf Bobs that were 鈥減retty much rotten into non-existence.鈥� Parsh was 7 when the Aurora park closed.
鈥淚 was just not quite tall enough to ride Dominator, Serial Thriller and Superman: Ultimate Escape,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he rest of the rides, I rode a ton. If I had to pick one park that I could go back in time that I never got to visit, I would definitely say Euclid Beach.鈥�
Euclid Beach Park, famously owned by the Humphrey family before it closed in 1969, is well-represented at the museum, alongside pieces from the Columbus Zoo, Conneaut Lake Park and many others. Some were acquired and some were donated.
鈥淥ne guy last year showed up [to the open house] with a boat from Chippewa Lake and I went, 鈥極h, that was a lot more than I was expecting!鈥欌�� Parsh said.
He estimated that the collection includes about 80 ride cars, half from roller coasters, stretching back to the early 20th century. Parsh offers 3D-printed models of memorabilia for sale during the open house.
Kevin Smith of Kevin's Northeast Ohio Amusement Memories will also be on-hand to collect remembrances from visitors.
