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Show Celebration of Century The faces of Lagoon have changed a lot during first 100 years iU ""IT sLJt U By TOM HARALDSEN FARMINGTON They're celebrating a century of fun at Lagoon La-goon this summer, a century that has seen the face of the state's most famous entertainment spot change dramatically through the years. In the late 1800'$, a number of resorts sprang up on the shores of the Great Salt Lake , as Utahns and visitors from many states basked in the lake's beauty and recreational usage. Most famous of these, of course, was the original Saltair, built on the shores and host of many dances and gala activities. It was at that time that Simon Bamberger, who would later be known as the first "gentile" governor gov-ernor of Utah, developed Lake Park, located about 2Vi miles west of where Lagoon sits today. It opened on July IS, 1886. Lagoon's predecessor featured goon's Dancing Pavilion hosted the biggest names in the Big Band era: Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and the Glenn Miller Orchestras. Though the park was closed during the final two years of World War II, it reopened again in 1946, with the Robert Freed family now operating in partnership with the Bamber-gers. Bamber-gers. Not coincidentally, the park began be-gan adding a number of attractions the next year, including the sky ride and a new swim building. In 1948, picnic arrangements began, and are a mainstay of the park today. to-day. New swimming dressing rooms came in 1949, Skee-ball in 1950, a remodeled Fun House, shooting gallery, dodgem cars and roman target in 1951. And in 1953, the ferris wheel was opened. The Bamberger railway stopped running run-ning in 1952, but the new cement music greats from Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong to Jimi Hen-drix, Hen-drix, Janis Joplin and even the Rolling Stones in 1966. The Lagoon La-goon Opera House opened in 1968 and of course Pioneer Village was constructed and opened in 1976, a 15-acre restoration of early Utah. "It's safe to say that the fire was the catalyst that really got the park going," Van Woerden stated. "We've become a traditional vacation vaca-tion spot for tourists from Utah, Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming, as well as many from the West Coast. We're constantly hearing how much better some visitors like us compared to the more crowded parks." So much history of the state is reflected in the park's history that it's difficult to capsulize into a short story. With the centennial 1 1P"4r IvhJ )f nf if Mimmsm- - il fllffi I fly : . ?; lilili ( ft , fTl I T f! ! Mil I' II.! t M fifS t Highway 91 brought crowds to the park. But October 1953 brought tragedy. A fire, still of undetermined undeter-mined origin, swept down the west side of the Midway, destroying the Fun House and Dancing Pavilion, along with dozens of other attractions. attrac-tions. The front of the roller coaster coas-ter also burned to the ground, but miraculously the Carousel was saved. Freed went on record at that time as saying he'd build a new Lagoon. The number of rides and attractions has steadily increased ever since. In 1954, a re-conditioned coaster opened, along with Tilt-a-whirl, a spook house, kiddie planes and autos, an arcade, a kiddie race track, and new terraces. In 1956, Mother Gooseland opened. The Fun House returned in 1957, and a speedway came along shortly thereafter. A restaurant featuring great fried chicken opened, and a showboat cruised Lagoon Lake in search of an elusive dragon. The Patio Gardens became the concert spot of Utah, hosting year here, the park plans a number" of activities, including daily drawings draw-ings for airline trips from Morris Air Service. The park opened on April 18, and will begin daily operations opera-tions on May 23. All shows have . the centennial theme, and over 1000 seasonal employees will benefit be-nefit from Lagoon this summer. Each year Lagoon also awards between 15 and 20 $500 college scholarships to its employees. The park has a number of second, third and fourth generation employees, and often hosts employee parties. "Our LEGS program, meaning Lagoon excels at guest service, helps give our employees additional addition-al motivation to treat our guests right. We survey our employees by using anonymous people, and good service is awarded with a cash prize," he explained. This season two new attractions have been added: the Centennial Screamer and a second ride that is yet unnamed. Park patrons will be able to enter a contest and select a name for the new ride. 2 3 . ( i an open-air dancing pavilion with delicately carved lattice work and archways. Cottages were available by the week or month, and admission admis-sion was 50 cents. Guests could enjoy swimming, dancing, boating, a merry-go-round, roller skating, trap shooting or bowling. Another 50 cents bought a full-coures dinner din-ner in the resort's restaurant. By the end of the first year, records show over 53,000 guests had visited vi-sited the park. But in the mid-1890's, the Great Salt Lake began playing games with its shoreline tenants, just as it has recently. This time, it began a steady course of receding, leaving behind a "sticky, blue mud that was miserable for bathers," the park's history reads. In 18, Bamberger Bam-berger and company relocated to the present location, changing the name to Lagoon to suit its new home on the banks of a nine-acre lagoon. The lagoon was the property of an ice cream company which had taken advantage of a well on the site to form ice in the winter, and then cut out blocks to sell. At that time, railroad cars were not refrigerated, and selling ice for shipping purposes was big business. busi-ness. But the ice company soon found the spring-filled lagoon was too warm, and thus did not produce good ice. They were reportedly more than happy to sell the property proper-ty to Simon Bamberger. The original Lagoon encompassed encompas-sed an acre from the present swimming swim-ming pool to where the Fire Dragon stands today. Activities included rowboating, swimming, and of course dancing. Crowds came in on Bamberger's railroad, which ran right to the park. Cost of a round-trip ticket from Salt Lake City or Ogden was just 25 cents. It was in 1906 that the park first added a "thrill ride," called Shoot the Chutes. "It was similar to our Log Flume today," stated Ron Van Woerden, advertising manager and entertainment entertain-ment director at the park. "Eight people rode in a car, and it was located about where the Music Theatre is today." The park later added the Scenic Railway, and a new merry-go-round with 45 hand-carved animals was delivered. It is the same ride used today. The park's well-known roller coaster was installed in 1921 and in 1927, when competition with Saltair was at its peak, the million-gallon million-gallon swimming pool was cemented in. Lagoon adopted a slogan about its pool, "swim in water wa-ter that's fit to drink." Although the slogan is no longer used, it still is synonymous with the Lagoon pool to many county residents. During the 1930's and 40's, La- V " 1 4 t The Inside Story Of The Pictures 1 The midway of Lagoon in the 1940s reflected the dress styles of the day. The Carousel merry-go-round on right is same one in use today. 9 Lagoon began as Lake Park, 2 12 miles west of its current site. The Lake Park Dancing Pavilion stood on the lake's shore in 1887, and the train shown brought crowds from Salt Lake and Ogden. Pavilion is used today as the Lake Park picnic terrace. 3 An artist's rendering of the original Lake Park, which was shut down after the Great Salt Lake receded in the 1890 i. 4a The original Lagoon dance pavilion, shown in the 1930's. which hosted the greats of the Big Band era. The pavilion was destroyed during a disasterous fire in 1953. Photos courtesy of Lagoon Corporation. I J |
