As the door closes on another summer season, there are many memories of the 35 years of Noble Park Funland and its impact on this community.
Although next year will celebrate the same number of years since its closure in 1988, the changes that this month brought to our family are still etched in my memory.
Before Carlton Watkins’ posting of the “Final Fun Fling” in October, the beginning of the school year in August heralded the closing of the park and waterslide during the weekdays.
As a teacher, August meant my days were filled with planners, lessons, bulletin boards, course syllabus, room arrangements, and set up for the new year well before the opening day and the weekday closing of the park.
August often means change for many. August meant more normalcy for my husband, who managed that great park. He was home for weekday meals with feet under our dinner table rather than under a picnic table.
Noble Park Funland still fills my mind with sounds of calliope music, smells of cotton candy and popcorn, happy squeals down the water slide amidst the noise of horns and motors of amusement park rides, and clanking of that train that carried happy guests around the park. There were 21 rides and that Watkins’ designed waterslide that brought joy to many.
Many may not realize that this park got sneak previews of seven patented and manufactured rides by that Noble Park Funland entrepreneur before they were sold and found homes around the world.
The manufacturing plant where hundreds of those rides were created added even more jobs for our community. It’s a joy to drive by other amusement companies and see one of Carlton Watkins’ rides still among the mix.
An epic legacy this genius mind left.
If you want a real treat, take a drive to Burns Park Funland in North Little Rock, Arkansas, to see a miniature version of Noble Park Funland still in operation. Carlton began that park and another in Arkansas before selling them.
Perhaps there are many of you who have favorite memories at Noble Park…riding the train, or the waterslide, or perhaps a birthday party or two.
Maybe a favorite ride or story that brings laughter is lingering in your memories, too.
I am thankful for my father and mother-in-law and husband’s aunt who began this great park venture and expanded it to include many company picnics, school field trips, family reunions, and the famous red tickets given to Vacation Bible School kids that were a treat to redeem.
Jobs for young and old alike were embraced there.
A truly clean family park was its intention where fun could be had on a local level.
Hosting the community’s only 4th of July fireworks celebration from that duck pond in the park was both exhilarating and frightening for my husband and those in charge of that event.
It was a favorite spot for grandparents to take their grandchildren and still truly missed by those of us who are old enough to remember.
As August brings changes for your calendar, schedules, and events, may you remember the summer with great memories.
I’m always ready for season changes, aren’t you?
Meanwhile…those changes in August with my years of teaching and those Noble Park Funland days are still lingering in my memories.
