When I was a kid growing up in the Hartford, Connecticut area, one of the highlights of the summer was our annual trip to Riverside Amusement Park in Agawam, Massachusetts.
In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, every year my grandmother would take all the grandkids to Riverside. To a young kid, between the ages of, say, 8 and 12 years old, the park was magical.
This was, of course, in the era before the Internet, cable television, and really, even video games. An amusement park then was everything and it was hard to sleep both on the night before and the night after spending the day there.
Today, Riverside Amusement Park is not really there. Yes, there is an amusement park in the same basic footprint, but it’s now part of Six Flags, which is a national chain of amusement parks.
While I’m sure Six Flags is professionally run, clean and safe, there was something about the charm of Riverside, an independent place, that is, in my opinion, impossible to replicate. While I wouldn’t have really been able to articulate it at the time, this place wasn’t cookie cutter and corporate. It had its own charm and quirks; attractions and idiosyncracies that you couldn’t fin anywhere else.
To be sure, some of the memories I have of Riverside Amusement Park were really similar to basic amusement park fare. But some of the memories stand out as unique; I look forward to others leaving their memories of Riverside.
Some of my favorites are as follows.
Laugh in the Dark: I never really understood why they named this ‘laugh’ (or ‘laff’ as I think they spelled it) in the dark. This was basically a haunted house, probably quite primitive by today’s standards, in which you rode a cart on a track. This was definitely not Disney’s Haunted Mansion, but it served the purpose. Though, truth be told, I was never really that scared. But I wanted to be.
Antique Cars: I wonder if kids today would line up to sit in an antique car ride. Back then, of course, the ride was modeled on cars only maybe 50 years old. Now they’d be about 80. I remember this as fun, though feeling slightly guilty that deep down it was a bit boring. I think I was afraid I’d offend my grandmother if I really spoke up about it. Besides, it wasn’t awful.
The Fun House: This was a big, two story mansion (near the antique cars) that had funhouse mirrors, rolling barrel floors, and even the occasional man in a gorilla suit (even though he served no obvious purpose). THIS was more a place for laughter than Laugh in the Dark was, but oh well.
Talking Garbage Cans: That’s right. In order to encourage kids to throw away their trash, Riverside had the foresight to put some sort of recording device in their garbage cans, and a lions head (if I remember correctly) on top of the garbage can. Kids were looking everywhere for garbage to throw away. Brilliant move by Riverside, I must say.
The Loop Coaster: This was a roller coaster which wasn’t there when I first went to Riverside. I remember it showed up one year, maybe two or three years after I started going. I remember distinctly the horrified looks on my aunt’s, grandmother’s and mother’s faces when they first saw that the Loop Coaster actually took its riders upside down. I never ventured onto The Loop Coaster until in high school, when I made my last ever trip to Riverside with my girlfriend. By then, the charm of the park was lost on me as I was focused on other things…
The Monorail: Why people line up to get on this thing is, in retrospect, a complete mystery. This was simply an elevated train, maybe 20 feet off of the ground, that slowly moved around the park, or at least a portion of the park. What purpose this thing served I’ll never know. But I do remember waiting in line with anticipation for this.
Orange Julius: I’d probably gag on it now, but part of the ritual of visiting Riverside Park was the Orange Julius we’d wait in line for and drink before leaving. It was a foamy and sweet orange concoction. I was convinced at the time that Riverside Park was the only place to get something that good and that well done.
So, those are some of my most memorable and unique memories of Agawam’s Riverside Park. Please leave yours below….and correct any of mine!
