DIANE MAKAR MURPHY Ice cream social will melt years away, and you'll be at Idora

"If Idora meant the smells of food, the numerous choices for entertainment, the people on a Sunday afternoon, then it will be Idora-like," said author Rick Shale, referring to Mill Creek Park's Bicentennial Ice Cream Social.
Shale will be part of the program Sunday as Fellows Riverside Gardens hosts the event.
With July National Ice Cream Month, and the 20th National Ice Cream Day, it's perfect timing. It's also an ideal time to hear from author Brian Butko, who wrote "Klondikes, Chipped Ham & amp; Skyscraper Cones: The Story of Isaly's" (available locally at Barnes & amp; Noble and online at www.Amazon.com and www.bn.com).
Butko and Shale will both be presenting inside the Fellow's Davis Center, at 3 p.m. and 1 p.m. respectively. Between these two talks, at 2 p.m., Carol Weakland, local actress and director, will perform "The Belle of Amherst." (I've seen Carol in this one-person show, portraying poet Emily Dickinson, and she's wonderful.)
More entertainment
Even more entertainment is planned in the Home Savings and Loan-sponsored event: barbershop quartets, Youngstown Connection, Riverside Jazz Band and jugglers.
"It's not just ice cream sundaes," said Carol Potter, director of Development and Marketing for Mill Creek MetroParks. "We started planning in the fall. As Ohio's first park district, we're an important part of the Bicentennial. And Idora Park just epitomizes the kind of festive atmosphere we are going for."
Which brings us back to local author and Youngstown State University professor Rick Shale. Dr. Shale's presentation will be a slide show based on his book, "Idora Park: The Last Ride of Summer" (also available as noted above)
"Idora was THE place in Youngstown," said Shale, a Boardman resident almost his entire life. "It began in 1899 as a trolley park."
What that means
Trolley parks were started by streetcar companies -- about 1,500 sprung up across the nation -- which needed an attraction to draw riders to parts of the line running through lesser developed areas, like Youngstown's South Side. Idora had two things that made the nickel trolley ride especially worth it -- the air was cleaner there than in the mill-polluted city, and the trolley stop was also close to Mill Creek Park.
"Idora's glory years were the '20s and '30s, maybe part of the '40s," Shale said.
In those glory days, Idora was the place where families went. Some people went simply for the music and dancing. "Idora had the finest ballroom between New York and Chicago," he said. "Every significant band of the time played there." The appendix of Shale's book lists entertainers like Louis Armstrong, Les Brown, Cab Calloway, and Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey.
Later, in the '60s and '70s, Idora began to attract teens more than families, Shale said. At that time, headliners included performers like Bobby Sherman and The Monkees.
Activities
Shale recalled people-watching on the midway, Skeet Ball, a shooting gallery, penny arcade, and a Fat Lady's and a Fat Man's race -- "politically incorrect now, of course."
While there were other amusement parks at the time, what made Idora different, according to Shale, was the diverse ethnic background of the area. Idora hosted German Days, Italian Days and others. "There might be music and people in costume," Shale said.
But Idora's bread and butter was the company picnics it hosted. When the mills closed, revenues dropped as companies no longer scheduled these.
"Idora has an enormous emotional grip on Youngstown," Shale said. "People just remember the good times. They are nostalgic for Norman Rockwell's America when families did things together."
From noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, people can replicate at least a little bit of that feeling at Mill Creek Park's Bicentennial Ice Cream Social. For more information, call Fellows Riverside Gardens, (330) 740-7116 or check the online calendar at www.millcreekmetroparks.com.
murphy@vindy.com